One of the destroyed residential buildings in the Saltovka neighborhood north of the city of Kharkiv (island)
Kharkiv – Kharkiv has been a major target for any regional or international forces, parties or powers for decades, and the history and present of the city bear witness to this, from the Second World War to the present day.
The arrival of Nazi German troops in Kharkiv on October 25, 1941, was a major reason for the Allied powers to intervene alongside Moscow in World War II, especially since it was one of the strongest and most fortified Soviet cities.
The city is one of the first cities to be rebuilt after the war because it included a number of factories for tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft engines and other heavy machinery, and after the war it received the honorary "Order of Lenin", the status of "hero city", one of the 12 Soviet cities that resisted the Germans at the time.
Because of its symbolism, based mainly on its military and industrial status and geographical location, the city was chosen in 2010 as a place to extend the agreement to keep the Russian fleet in the Black Sea between Moscow and Kiev, after the accession of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to power.
Workers remove debris left by Russian shelling of Kharkiv city centre on January 2 (Al Jazeera)
Old separatist manifestations
Kharkiv was often generally a city whose residents supported the pro-Russian fortunes of any election, and in 2014 it was one of the cities that witnessed a major separatist movement, but it did not succeed, such as the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk, because Kiev rushed to destroy it by force at the time.
Prior to the current war, the Ukrainian president had already expected Kharkiv to be a prime target for any large-scale Russian invasion, which he did, but it included Kharkiv and several other eastern, northern, and southern provinces together.
Today's outspoken Russian narrative revolves around Russians' entitlement to the city, because they see it as a "historical legacy" and consider the majority of its Russian-speaking residents to be "rights oppressed" by the pro-Western Kiev authorities, a narrative denied by Ukrainians, who assert that the city has changed demographically over decades, and the curse of its geographical location close to Russia, as they see it.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, historian Oleksandr Bali, author of the book "The Brief History of Ukraine," says that "the Soviet Union deliberately changed the demographics of major cities, by settling Russian-speakers in them and preventing the circulation of Ukrainian; for this we find that the residents of the cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk and even Kiev spoke Russian more before the war, while most of the suburban residents speak Ukrainian."
Speaking of the city's 31,4-square-kilometre Eastern Province, he adds: "In the towns, villages and suburbs of Kharkiv, people speak Ukrainian in the so-called 'surgik' way, which is Ukrainian that was influenced by Russian by virtue of its proximity."
The hotel "Kharkiv Palats" in Kharkiv was bombed at the beginning of this year on the pretext that its guests were foreign mercenaries (Al-Jazeera)
Kharkiv's sudden change of hue
Since the events of 2014, Russia's subsequent annexation of Crimea and its support for the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, which it formally annexed without international recognition in September 2022, Kharkiv seems to have changed radically, becoming one of the most hostile and anti-Russian cities.
This is highlighted by the extent of resistance shown by the city since the beginning of the war, in addition to the shift of many residents of the city to speak Ukrainian deliberately, which is confirmed by the historian Bali by saying, "Millions of Ukrainians changed their view of Russia after the events of 2014, turning in their eyes into an enemy instead of a brother, and Kharkiv was no exception here."
"In the first days of the war, the Russians quickly arrived inside the city's neighborhoods, but their resistance surprised them, as it was not expected of this magnitude, and it cost them great losses, and then ended with their withdrawal from most of the territory of the province in September 2022 as well," he said.
The historian adds, "In my opinion, Kharkiv hurt the enemy the most, because the Russians in it were the ones who were fighting the Russians, and telling them that this is Ukrainian land, and it will not be allowed to you, which reflected positively on the morale of the Ukrainians and the army, and negatively on the other side."
Mayor of Kharkiv Ihor Terikhov for Al Jazeera Net "The goal of the bombing on Kharkiv is to take revenge on the city and its inhabitants" (Al Jazeera)
A city that is permissible by bombing
For all these reasons, and being the closest large city to the Russian border, with its center only about 40 km from the border of the Belgorod province, Kharkiv seems "tolerated" by the bombardment, which strikes it almost daily more than others.
Explains Mayor of the city Ihor Terikhov, for the island net "Kharkiv often bombed missiles "S-300", and by virtue of the geographical location close to the Russian Belgorod, these missiles reach their targets within only 40 seconds, "and adds, "We need defenses capable of intercepting these missiles efficiently, especially as they follow a ballistic path difficult for the available defenses to deal with."
Indeed, explosions are often heard in the city before sirens sound, and more often and the length of the hours of warning of the danger of shelling in Kharkiv, but in the rest of the province's cities, the situation is worse, with mortars, grads and others taking off various locations, without the defenses being able to repel them all.
"Vindictive motives"
Mayor Terikhov said the aim of the bombing on Kharkiv was to "take revenge on the city and its inhabitants," stressing that it "often affects residential neighborhoods, power grids and other vital infrastructure and transportation facilities, and creates many burdens."
He also pointed out that "the frequency of bombing on the city has increased recently, just as it happened with other Ukrainian cities, and this was expected from the Russian aggressor as the cold intensified," as temperatures in Kharkiv reach below minus 15 degrees.
But this "revenge" seems to have another reason, it seems: the "permissible" city has become a nuisance for the Russians, especially in neighboring Belgorod, which is sometimes violently bombed, and the matter between them is an act and a reaction. But Ivan Stupak, a military expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future and a former adviser on military security in the Ukrainian parliament, believes that "this is not quite the case, although it is not excluded."
"This is an event and it will happen; but we must mention that Kiev often points out that the bombing of Belgorod and others is the result of Russian mistakes (regarding the efficiency of some types of missiles used), or even as a result of the Russian leadership deliberately bombing residential neighborhoods in cities within its territory, with the aim of mobilizing souls locally against Ukraine, and ensuring the continuation of the war," Stoback explained in an interview with Al Jazeera Net.
Source : Al Jazeera