Firefighters clear rubble at a destroyed cultural center, used as a humanitarian aid center, hit by an airstrike on May 12, in Derhachi, near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday.
Ukraine war in photos: In Kharkiv, ‘normal’ may be a long way away
Returning to a home where the war was fought.
Earlier in the war in Ukraine, after Russian mishaps and a strong Ukrainian resistance forced a Russian retreat from the area surrounding the capital, Kyiv, we soon saw evidence of a return to normalcy in the city. People returning to their homes, businesses reopening, foreign dignitaries visiting and so forth.
Now, the Russians have been driven from the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and in some ways, that pattern is repeating itself. People are returning to the city or emerging from shelters, and trying to return to something like life before the war began.
But as these photos make clear, the similarity ends there. While the battle for Kyiv was fought in the towns and small cities that surround the capital, the battle for Kharkiv was felt intensely inside the city itself. So in this case, returning home is a very different proposition. The rebuilding will take a long time. The trauma will be felt more deeply. And anything like “normalcy” may be a long way away.
Workers clean debris from a destroyed building in the Zhukovsky district of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday. (Aziz Karimov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A destroyed Russian tank is seen in a damaged field in the village of Biskvitne, Ukraine, on Thursday. (Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A destroyed Russian tank is seen in a damaged field in Biskvitne on Thursday. (Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A destroyed building is seen in a damaged field in the village of Biskvitne on Thursday. (Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A destroyed building and rusted machinery are seen in a field in Biskvitne on Thursday. (Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Damaged solar panels are seen at a meat processing plant after Russian attacks in the village of Vilkhivka, Ukraine, on Thursday. (Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Rusted machinery is surrounded by rubble in Biskvitne on Thursday. (Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Russian shells are seen in front of a destroyed building in Biskvitne on Thursday. (Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Military ammunition left over from Russian attacks is seen on the road in Biskvitne on Thursday. (Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Firefighters clear rubble at a destroyed cultural center, used as a humanitarian aid center, hit by an airstrike on May 12, in Derhachi, near Kharkiv, on Wednesday. (DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)
A damaged farm and cows are seen after Russian attacks in the village of Vilkhivka on Thursday. (Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The metal roof of a damaged farm building curls up after Russian attacks in Vilkhivka on Thursday. (Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Tom Nagorski is the global editor at Grid, where he oversees our coverage of global security, U.S.-China relations, migration trends, global economics and U.S. foreign policy.