Artillery fire echoes through a neighborhood in western Kharkiv that has been under Russian fire for weeks, but the mayor of Ukraine’s second city, Igor Terekhov, is barely paying attention.
“The aggressors are trying to transform Kharkiv into a miserable city, similar to those they have in Russia,” asserts the mayor in an interview with AFP.
“But they will not succeed,” swears the 55-year-old city councilor, elected last November, a few months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Kharkiv, a predominantly Russian-speaking city a few dozen kilometers from the border, found itself on the front line from February 24 and was the scene of intense bombing and fighting. But the Russians were never able to occupy it, and retreated against the Ukrainian army from mid-April.
The city remains however subjected to intense bombardments, and daily counts its deaths.
A picture of a shocked father holding the hand of his teenage son who was killed near a Kharkiv bus shelter last week could sum up the pain the city has endured.
No safe neighborhood
“We have nine neighborhoods in the city and they are all hit with varying intensity and at different times. So we can say that no place in Kharkiv is safe,” summarizes the mayor.
“Yes, you are safe in the shelters and on the subway. But that’s about all,” he adds.
By the end of March, nearly a third of the residents of Kharkiv, which had a pre-war population of around 1.4 million, had fled west.
The city enjoyed a brief respite in early May when Russian forces retreated and the main fighting focused on the Battle of Donbass in the east.
Around this time, some 2,000 people were returning to Kharkiv daily, shops were reopening and residents were starting to leave their shelters.
But the truce was short-lived.
According to Igor Terekhov, the victims number in the hundreds, even if he is not able to give a precise assessment.
“We are facing a genocide against the Ukrainian people and nation,” he said.
150,000 homeless
Some 30% of the houses and apartments in the city were destroyed, continues the mayor, who estimates the number of homeless at 150,000.
“101 kindergartens, 110 schools, 53 medical establishments and a perinatal center have been destroyed”, he lists, adding that “most of these infrastructures cannot be rebuilt”.
Several municipal officials fear a new attempt by Russian forces to seize Kharkiv.
“We are preparing for it, our army is preparing for it, we will defend our city”, declared Mr. Terekhov, even if he admits not knowing what the Russian intentions are.
The mayor suddenly comes alive when he talks about the future, and his vision of the future renaissance of Kharkiv, which will combine the charm of the buildings of the old town and the modernity of a city attracting technological companies.
“After our victory, there will be a new dynamic in Kharkiv, and throughout Ukraine,” he said. “We will have the opportunity to build a new city and a new country.”