Lost everything at the age of 87

Mrs. Liuvov, 87, has not been evicted from her home: she has been evicted from her life. It has existed for a long time VovchanskThe city bordering Russia has now become history. Like all the others his house has been burnt down by Russian bombs. people are no more Present. They have bombarded it with incendiary ammunition and the fire can be seen and smelled from a distance. Volunteers got Liuvov out of there hours earlier and, when she finally came to her senses after talking to two health workers, she collapsed unconscious on the floor of an institution in Kharkiv, where they gave her, for the time being, a life support. Brought to save. Now start from zero.

Hundreds of people coming from the disputed area in their Ladas and other Soviet-era cars try to enter the educational centre. They do this in small family groups. You see many old men wearing their gray suits as per the Warsaw Pact, but few children. Some of the agricultural-looking men, with hemp in hand and leathery skin, still carry garden dust on their shoes. They are the poorest people in Ukraine, who are forced to live without any alternative in their country houses with their gardens and animals to survive. That’s why you see so many tears in the queue. Now came the most dreadful moment for all of them.

8,000 people have already been evacuated there, And they arrive in Kharkiv, a city that is also attacked every day by the Russians, who remind them of their uneasy presence by being bombarded by missiles, aerial bombs and drones every night for weeks. Kharkiv is already home to 200,000 displaced people from northern border towns, according to municipal figures. Even when added to the current 1.3 million residents, they still do not reach the two million people who lived in Ukraine’s second city before the invasion.

We go to the line of people and Natasha, a blonde woman of about 40, who was taken out of her basement, explains to us: “The Russians are already in Vovchansk. We saw them crossing the river. Our army took them Driven out but they have reproduced they appear everywhere like insects and now they want to take away everything that has cost us so much in our lifetime to build, they have burnt our houses and what not If it burns, they take it away.

As Natasha speaks, other women come to tell their stories. One of them claims that they brought their car of their own free will, “because there was no point in continuing there.” Others, in volunteer vans, took along their dogs and cats, but left the cows, pigs and chickens there to Russian wrath. “Last night they were shooting at everything. We came without sleep and without strength.” He can’t complete the sentence because his eyes are filling with tears. Some women carry on their backs ordinary backpacks where they packed a few hryvnias for their life and all their fortune. The World Food Program gives them a few boxes and two loaves of bread for these days. Chef José Andrés’ NGO, World Central Kitchen, provides hot meals, No one knows from there.

Volodymyr Zelensky, who according to his old plans should have been in Spain today, is in Kharkiv and everyone is talking about it. The lines are heard, “The President has arrived.” But Zelensky was not seen in Ukraine’s second city as he held his war council in Kharkiv at the headquarters of the 92nd Mechanized Brigade, the experienced, hardened, and Z troops sent from Donbass to stop the attack. “The situation is very serious”

, he said in a video broadcast on his channel. He concluded, “Ukraine cannot afford to lose the city of Kharkiv.”

At the moment, based on Russian movements in recent days, it appears the objective is Vovchansk. At least this is what many Russian prisoners taken there have revealed. “We have orders to capture the city in two days,” but the deadline is getting longer. They have occupied the northern part, that is, the suburbs, but if they want to advance south they will have to cross the river, which always represents an important obstacle for armies. In the second attack zone, towards the city of Lipsi, Ukraine has managed to control the advance over the past 48 hours. If Russia wants to advance further south, it will have to deploy more troops than its current counterparts, whose reels are already depleted after a week of fighting with many casualties. It must be remembered that the army which attacks, and, therefore, which exposes itself, usually suffers more deaths and injuries than the defending army.

General Kirill BudanovThe head of Ukrainian intelligence has been warning for days that this Kharkiv offensive is nothing more than a confusion campaign to attack with greater force elsewhere: the neighboring region of Sumy.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) declares, “The pace of the Russian offensive in Kharkiv has slowed after the invaders captured the areas least defended by Ukrainian troops.” The reality is that despite the failed Ukrainian response, the seven kilometers the Russians conquered in the first three days remain in place, but they now face capable troops. So much so that the prisoners start increasing. The only problem is to unite so many different battalions, brought up from their respective rest rotations, as to prevent them from killing each other with so-called friendly fire, as the fighting at Vovchansk was already street-to-street and From house to house.

History, which seemed very favorable to Moscow in the early days, will not achieve its objectives if it creates that buffer zone to prevent Ukraine from repeatedly attacking Russian territory. If experts talk, this could be overturned. Russian city of Belgorod With his anti-Putin volunteer militia.

As Ukraine has beefed up its defenses with troops that are supposed to be resting, Moscow was expected to take more aggressive steps in other areas, but at least that has not happened so far. There have been no changes neither in the city of Chasiv Yar, nor in the key that unlocks Kramatorsk, nor in the Avdiivka region.

where there is movement Belbek Air Base, Crimea, Ukraine has bombed its runways and facilities for two consecutive nights, causing significant damage. Russian Telegram groups noted the destruction of a MiG31, which the Russians used to launch the dreaded Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, and three Su27 fighters, in addition to destroying several S300 and S400 anti-aircraft missile launchers. Had caused harm. This indicates that US-origin ATACSM missiles are already in Ukraine’s hands, allowing them to be used where the damage would be greatest.

The next few hours will be decisive To see who is willing to double down and deploy more troops into the cauldron of northern Kharkiv. Vovchansk, or whatever remains of it, may change hands or remain on the Ukrainian side. Meanwhile, Russian bombs will continue to destroy homes and lives like Mrs. Liuvov’s.