Atrocities in Kharkiv were revealed as towns were liberated from the Russian soldiers. Ukrainian officials stated this week that they are pushing closer to the Russian border, liberating small villages on the borders of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city before the invasion. The Ukrainian gains pose the strategic threat of severing Russia’s supply lines into Ukraine and its forces farther south in the Donbas region, as well as the symbolic embarrassment of expelling Kremlin forces back to their own border.
According to Ukrainian sources, this convoy was attempting to leave the town when Russian troops opened fire. The bullet holes are concentrated on the doors of some of the drivers. The area around the trucks is littered with children’s clothes and toys. Russian troops opened fire on this caravan, killing four civilians, including a 13-year-old girl, according to Ukrainian officials.
The remains of a Russian convoy can be found a short distance up the road, out in the woods and hills nearby. Our escorts say there’s the wreckage of an armored personnel carrier in the trees, its tracks ripped away by a rocket-propelled grenade. The leaves where the Russian forces slept, just outside the town, are littered with sleeping bags, prayer books, grenades, and food. Two Russian bodies had been discovered there a few days before and were buried.
Another, more unusual piece of wreckage stands on the crest of the hill: the remains of a Russian T90M tank, allegedly destroyed days earlier by a Swedish-supplied Carl Gustav recoilless weapon. The Ukrainian military ministry posted a video of the tank being destroyed in the alleged strike, demonstrating the susceptibility of Russia’s newest armor to NATO’s hand-carried weapons. The tank’s turret has been dislocated, and ball bearings from the vehicle’s ammunition have been found in the ashes.