In Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv, rescue crews today found four dead people under a destroyed apartment block. The authorities are now trying to get an overview of the destruction after more than three months of war. Back home after the escape – Will I move back? Then I have to get everything here again, you see what it looks like, says Nadezjda Setsova. She has invited NRK into her apartment on “Friendship between the people street”, in the district Saltivka northeast of Kharkiv. There are usually around 400,000 people living in what is usually a suburb with a metro connection to the center of Kharkiv. This is the outside of the block Nadezhda Setsova lived in. This is the neighboring apartment. It is not many days since Nadezhda Setsova, for the first time since she chose to flee in late February, was back in the apartment for the first time. She had then lived here for 31 years and looked forward to some quiet years as a pensioner in the spacious two-room apartment, with its own kitchen and bathroom. – I cried when I saw what it looked like, says Nadezjda. She also gets tears in her eyes when she tells about what she and the people of Saltivka have been through after Russia attacked Ukraine on 24 February. Resisting the attack NRK can still see the traces of the Russian tanks that entered the central parts of Kharkiv at the start of the attack, before being repulsed by the Ukrainian forces. To the surprise of many, the Ukrainian forces opposed the Russian attack on Kharkiv, which is only 40-50 kilometers from the border with Russia. This meant that the Russian forces had short lines of supply and could to a large extent rely on an almost total superiority in the air. Perhaps it was to avenge that this Russian defense launched what can only be described as a pure terrorist bombing of Saltivka, as legitimate for Russian artillery. There are many houses in Saltivka that look like this. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / NRK Saltivka covers a huge area, and not all parts of the slum are equally hard hit by the war. But especially what is called Saltivka North is similar to what we have seen in Mariupol, the industrial city on the Azov Sea that the Russian forces took control of in mid-May. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / NRK Investigating the damage Almost every house has blown windows and black marks after grenades. Some houses are completely destroyed, while others may be possible to renovate. When NRK visited Saltivka, a group of investigators from the police and the public prosecutor went from apartment to apartment to document the damage. – In this phase, the most important thing is just to get us contact information for the residents here. This is what Oleksandr Arsenyj says from the public prosecutor’s office in Kharkiv, who has made a small provisional counter on a bench in front of one of the entrances on “Friendship between the people street”. The Kharkiv authorities distribute food to those in need. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / NRK – We have limited resources and limited time right now, while shooting at the city is also going on all the time, says Arsenyj. NRK could also hear heavy roars from cannons when we visited Saltivka on Tuesday. – Take it easy, there is nothing to worry about, says Viktor Bopovaloj. It is far away and probably our Ukrainian forces are firing on the Russian positions. Viktor and his good friend Bogdan Aleksandrov have taken NRK on a tour of the war’s Kharkiv. Viktor Bopovaloj and Bogdan Aleksandrov have worked as volunteer helpers during the war in Ukraine. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / NRK They are both with a voluntary organization that tries to help those who have problems to get the most necessary, both food and other services. – For a long period, only we dared to move to the most vulnerable areas in Saltivka, says Viktor, who himself lives in this part of the city as usual. Bogdan also grew up here, but now lives in the far safer southern part of Kharkiv. Many hundreds of cars in Saltivka have been destroyed as a result of Russian shooting. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / NRK They also show us several parking spaces, or what were once parking spaces. Many in Kharkiv have parked their cars in guarded and fenced areas. It should not turn out to be so wise when the Russian forces aimed their weapons at Ukraine and Saltivka on 24 February. – This is just tragic, says Bogdan Aleksandrov. He shows us everything from old Ladas to Mercedeses, which have in common that they have been destroyed due to shooting after the war started. A damaged car in the Zhykovsky district, Kharkiv Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / NRK In line to get food A little closer to the center of Kharkiv, we see a long queue of people queuing to get their monthly lunch box from the authorities. It does not contain much, rice, some macaroni, bread and some canned food. But those we talk to are still grateful that something is being done for them. – This is very important, say Natalia and Vladimir Ponitkin. They say that they have a pension of 2300 griven, or around 700 Norwegian kroner, each month. Vladimir and Natalia Ponitkin are happy to have their own box of food once a month. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / NRK – There is no work here now, says Vladimir. He says that they now live some distance outside Kharkiv itself. – We must get peace so quickly so that our children can see the sun, says Natalia Ponitkina while we hear new roars from cannons in the far north. The market has burned down. This building in the center of Kharkiv was hit hard.
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Kharkiv licks its wounds – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
