A Look at Life in a Shattered Ukrainian Neighborhood

An aerial bombardment tore through this 16-story apartment building at 82 Natalia Uzhviy Street in the Saltivka neighborhood of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in 2022 during the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The explosion ripped the building inside out. Elevator cables dangled in an empty shaft, giving off a low, mournful whistle when the wind blew through the ruins.

The shattered building became a symbol of Saltivka’s devastation.

Before the war, Saltivka was a densely populated neighborhood — young, vibrant and home to some 400,000 people.

But months of Russian shelling have left towering apartment blocks pockmarked with shell holes. About 70 percent of the residential buildings were damaged, many abandoned, local officials say.

Russian forces were pushed back from the outskirts of Kharkiv in May 2022. Hints of regular life slowly resumed last year after some residents trickled back.

The bombed apartment building at 82 Natalia Uzhviy Street was torn down. Other structures were partly repaired. Shops reopened and traffic flowed.

Uliana Yakovets, 8, and other girls attended ballet classes in an underground bomb shelter.

“Before, she was pulling her hair and ears and chewing her nails,” said Uliana’s mother, Olga Yakovets. “The ballet classes make it feel a little like it was before the war.”

Things were starting to get better.

This year, the bombing began again. In May, Russia launched a new offensive over its border toward Kharkiv.

Air-raid sirens wailed day and night, punctuated by explosions. On May 25, Russian glide bombs hit a shopping center, killing 19 people.

“The mood here has become worse,” Ms. Yakovets said. “We used to let the children play outside, but now I’m afraid.”

Away from downtown Kharkiv, the fighting is intense. At a stabilization point a 45-minute drive from Saltivka in May, a Ukrainian soldier was wrapped in bandages after an explosion wounded him and killed his comrade.

Still, Olga Kobzar, 71, has never abandoned her home in the northernmost part of Saltivka, where practically every bombed-out building on her street is abandoned.

Ms. Kobzar is the lone resident of her apartment block and spends her days tending the garden she has grown for 30 years. She now plants flowers in bomb craters.

Despite the surrounding destruction, her apartment is tidy. A collection of Czech crystal is displayed in a dresser.

“I have organized everything according to my plan,” said Ms. Kobzar, whose son is fighting on the front line. “Only the war is out of my control.”

Tension lingers despite a veneer of normality. Church services are held in basements. After sundown, lights from the few occupied apartments glow against concrete slabs.

Ms. Yakovets worried that further Russian advances toward Saltivka would again put the suburb in the cross hairs.

Yehor, 4, Uliana’s brother, has developed a stutter.

“We asked him about it,” Ms. Yakovets said. “And he said, ‘When the war stops, I will stop.’”

Ukrainian forces have been constructing new defensive lines around Kharkiv in case of further Russian advances.

Soldiers from the 47th Separate Engineer Brigade last month were digging trenches less than a 20-minute drive from Saltivka as Russian mortars whistled overhead and exploded in the surrounding fields.

After briefly taking cover, they continued digging.

Valentyn Biletkiy, 65, and his wife, Tetiana Biletkiy, 61, grow cucumbers and tomatoes in the solarium of their apartment.

There are 128 apartments in their building — all inhabited before the invasion, Mr. Biletkiy said. Only 16 families have returned to live amid the ruins.

“I’m too tired to be worried,” he said. “I feel sad. We’ve built it all back up with our pension money, and we could lose it all again.”

Evelina Riabenko contributed reporting.