The city of Kharkiv was a bustling metropolis just a month ago. Now, large areas are in ruin as the city falls victim to what locals and experts say is a Russian strategy of targeting civilians in face of faltering military advance.
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While most Russian shelling of Kharkiv to date has occurred during the evening, strikes in daylight hours have picked up in recent days, locals say. The internal components of a 300mm rocket that appears to have contained cluster bombs launched from a BM-30 Smerch rocket launcher embedded in the ground near the Memorial to the Victims of Totalitarianism in a forest on the outskirts of Kharkiv.The timing of the strikes appears designed to maximize civilian casualties and instill terror in the local population.
"Every single day, something explodes," said Yakovlev. "There are no military objects [in the city centre], only residential areas. They are intentionally shelling [civilians]." Russian forces made numerous attempts to capture the city in the invasion's opening day, sending in lightly armoured special forces units in a bid to seize local government buildings.Yakovlev, the police officer, witnessed some of those battles."On Feb. 27, five Russian Tigr [armoured vehicles] broke into the city. One of them reached our [police] base — I think they were lost, because [the soldiers inside] just ran out and tried to hide in the nearby school.
Russia, for its part, denies that its troops are even attacking Kharkiv, as foreign minister Sergei LavrovA Kharkiv resident walks amid the debris of a burning house, destroyed after a Russian attack, on March 24.
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