UKRAINE’S second largest city is in danger of becoming a “second Aleppo” as constant waves of Russian airstrikes turn it into a wasteland.
Kharkiv’s mayor Ihor Terekhov has begged for the West to step in and accused Vladimir Putin of terrorising its 1.3million residents and plunging the city into darkness.
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Kharkiv, located on the eastern front only 30 miles from the Russian border, is increasingly becoming the target of Russia’s new offensive.
Everyday its residents live through an airborne terror as analysts say Putin is hellbent on depopulating the city.
Russian attacks on Kharkiv – liberated after six months of Moscow’s occupation in September 2022 – have been scaling up dramatically in previous weeks, killing dozens and leaving thousands without electricity.
Terekhov said that unless the West steps up and delivers crucial air defence systems – Kharkiv could suffer the same fate as the Syrian city of Aleppo, which heavy Russian bombing helped to decimate a decade ago.
The £50billion US military aid package still blocked in Congress is of “critical importance for us,” he told The Guardian.
“We need that support to prevent Kharkiv being a second Aleppo,” Terekhov pleaded.
But the stalling of Western military aid has had devastating effects on the battlefield – and that is being felt deeply in Kharkiv.
On March 22, Russian attacks destroyed the city’s two main power plants and a network of substations, plunging the city into darkness.
Last week, power went out again across the city after the latest bombing raid.
Hospitals, businesses and homeowners are desperately trying to get their hands on generators, while school children study in darkness and underground bunkers.
Terekhov previously told The Sun today that half the city’s 200 schools had already been destroyed by the war.
Some 150,000 of the residents have been made homeless by Russia’s bombardments and half the city’s hospitals and medical facilities have been hit.
However, amid the bombings and the blackouts Kharkiv’s residents look intent on staying put, according to a report by The Atlantic Council.
Ukraine for months has been demanding more patriot defence systems to defend their skies.
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Their calls have grown in the wake of Ukraine’s allies – US, UK and France – helping to defend Israel against Iran’s missile and drone onslaught last weekend.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s has expressed his frustration at his allies for protecting Israel’s air space while his cities are blitzed by Russian missiles.
Ukraine’s PM Denys Shmyhal warned the West that World War 3 will erupt if Russia wins.
He joined the growing chorus of officials calling on the US to finally hand over its long-stalled £50billion aid package.
“We need this money yesterday, not tomorrow, not today,” he told the BBC.
The House of Representatives is set to vote this Saturday on the vital military aid bill, which has $61billion (£49billion) earmarked for Kyiv, as well as funding for Israel and the Indo-Pacific.
Shmyhal stated: “If we will not protect… Ukraine will fall…So the global, the global system of security will be destroyed… and all the world will need to find… a new system of security.
“Or, there will be many conflicts, many such kinds of wars, and in the end of the day, it could lead to the Third World War.”
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