Kharkiv mayor says no grounds for evacuation from city

Neither the authorities nor the military currently deem evacuation from Kharkiv necessary despite the continuous Russian attacks.

Source: Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov in an interview with LIGA.net

Quote from Terekhov: "Evacuation is underway from the oblast where fighting is ongoing, and these people are heading towards Kharkiv. Currently, the city has a population of 1.3 million residents. So far, neither we nor the military see any grounds for evacuating from Kharkiv. This is part of Russian psychological operations to intimidate and unsettle the residents."

Details: He added that Russia is currently using new weaponry against Kharkiv, including projectiles with a larger impact radius. However, the Russians themselves have not advanced closer to the city.

Mostly, the Russians are attacking Kharkiv from Russia’s Belgorod and its surrounding region. The S-300 missile system is most frequently employed. Terekhov said that this weaponry reaches Kharkiv in 40 seconds. Additionally, the Russians are using Shahed drones.

Quote from Terekhov: "I don't know what the enemy's plan is. Almost all critical energy infrastructure, including individual infrastructure, has been practically destroyed. Russia wants to intimidate us, but it's impossible. Over the past two years, we've seen various threats, starting with sabotage operations in Kharkiv. There were times when only 300,000 people remained in the city of almost two million. The situation for the energy sector is very challenging."

Details: Terekhov emphasised that "no one is giving up."

"We have invincibility centres working around the clock. After the recent blackout following the shelling, 28,000 Kharkiv residents came there. People are being fed for free in schools. Over the past year, 10 million servings of food have been distributed. We have experienced even tougher times – we will survive these as well," emphasised the mayor of Kharkiv [invincibility centres are heated premises stocked with food and power banks to assist residents facing hardships due to power cuts; a hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories – ed.].

He also said that currently, it is not important what the Russians are preparing, but how the Ukrainians will respond.

"The Russians will not succeed in exhausting Kharkiv. There is no panic in the city. Russia's attempts to intimidate are futile – people are united. Kharkiv is an outpost of Ukraine. And we understand this perfectly well," summed up Terekhov.

Background:

• Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza reported that Russian "political elites" are not ruling out that Russia and its ruler Vladimir Putin might try to capture Kharkiv and gradually end the so-called "special military operation" [as the Russians call the war in Ukraine – ed.] or that he is ready to "go to the end - even to Kyiv".
• Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the military is carrying out large-scale work on the fortification of territories where the Russians may launch an offensive. He has also expressed the opinion that a possible attack on Kharkiv would be a fatal mistake for Russia.

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