Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv is known to many history buffs
as the scene of a series of fierce battles between the Red Army and the
German armed forces and Waffen SS during the Second World War, marked
by large-scale tank clashes and bloody house-to-house fighting.
A
destroyed Russian military vehicle is seen on the roadside on the
outskirts of Kharkiv on February 26th, 2022, following the Russian
invasion of Ukraine.(Photo by SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images)
While much media attention has focused on the fighting near the
Ukrainian capital of Kyiv (Kiev) until now, Kharkiv — a key city just
south of the Russian border and to the north-west of the separatist
people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk — has also seen its share of
fighting, and appeared to be the scene of the war’s most significant
clashes as of Sunday morning.
Content warning – graphic image:
The
body of a Russian serviceman lies near destroyed Russian military
vehicles on the roadside on the outskirts of Kharkiv on February 26th,
2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by SERGEY
BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images)
Oleh Sinegubov, the regional governor, confirmed that the “Russian enemy” had “broken into Kharkiv, including the city centre” on Sunday morning.
“Ukraine’s armed forces are destroying the enemy,” Sinegubov asserted
confidently, asking the city’s civilian population — numbering close
one and a half million, at least prior to the invasion — to remain
indoors.
Content warning – graphic image:
The
body of a serviceman is coated in snow as a man takes photos of a
destroyed Russian military multiple rocket launcher vehicle on the
outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25th, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim
Ghirda)
Multiple videos are circulating on social media which purport to show Ukrainian forces engaging in firefights, Russian forces being ambushed near a playground, Russian tanks and vehicles being destroyed, and Ukrainian or Russian
personnel being taken prisoner in the city — but all such footage
remains very difficult to verify in the current information environment.
A
destroyed Russian military multiple rocket launcher vehicle is coated
in fresh snow on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25th,
2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
A Defence Intelligence update
shared by the British government suggests that Russian forces moved
into Kharkiv after “Intensive exchanges of rocket artillery overnight.”
The Russian government, for its part, claims
that “the 302nd anti-aircraft missile regiment of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine, equipped with Buk M-1 air defence systems, voluntarily laid
down their arms and surrendered” to their forces in the region,
resulting in 471 prisoners being taken.
