In War-Torn Kharkiv, Residents Brace for Uncertain Future

Olga says at least one room of her house wasn’t affected by the shrapnel from the bombs that fell around the building where she lives with her husband and their dog in Kharkiv, Feb. 15, 2023.

At least 500 buildings in Kharkiv are so damaged that they cannot be repaired. At least 150,000 people lost their homes in the city, Feb. 15, 2023.

A soldier observes Ivan, no surname given, commander of one of the defensive lines around Kharkiv, Feb. 17, 2023.

A soldier leaves a bunker inside a maze of trenches in one of the defensive lines built around Kharkiv, Feb. 17, 2023.

A soldier patrols the forest around Kharkiv, where the Ukrainian army created a series of defensive lines, Feb. 17, 2023.

A dummy used by the Ukrainian forces to fool Russian snipers stands in Saltivka, a residential district in Kharkiv hit hard by the Russian artillery, Feb. 15, 2023.

The residential district of Saltivka was the one most damaged during the Russian siege of Kharkiv, where dozens of buildings now sit empty, Feb. 17, 2023.

A man passes by a crater created when a missile hit a parking lot in Saltivka, a residential district of Kharkiv, Feb. 15, 2023.

Oleg Kristopp, a 53-year-old carpenter, says he routinely wakes up in the middle of the night with nightmares about explosions and artillery fire, Feb. 15, 2023.

On a quiet Feb. 15, 2023, a young mother strolls with her baby in Saltivka, near what a few months ago was the front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Kharkiv.

Despite being constantly hit by ballistic missiles, life goes on in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, Feb. 15, 2023.

Alexey Yermack, a Saltivka resident, says he fears for his grandsons if the Russians try to invade Kharkiv again, Feb. 15, 2023.