As soon as the shelling started in his neighborhood, the construction worker Nikolaj fled his house. A number of missiles struck his residential building.

When he and his son-in-law were cleaning up the wrecked house, SVT Nyheter ran into him there.

Although Russian is Nikolaj’s first language, he has always identified more strongly with the Ukrainian culture. He keeps up with both Russian and Ukrainian news outlets. The Russians, as one would expect, want to portray themselves in a positive light.

But if they had seen what I witnessed with their own eyes, he argues, they would know that they rob and murder innocent people, including children, women, and the elderly.

Battles raging around the city

Heavy combat and heavy shelling have been going on in and around Kharkiv, which is the second-largest city in Ukraine and which has been partially controlled by Russian troops, since the commencement of the Russian invasion.

Electricity, water, and other vital forms of infrastructure have been severely deficient for extended periods of time.

It has been reported that the Ukrainian armed forces have recently achieved considerable success in the region around the city, where a number of villages have been taken control of.