KHARKIV According to President VladimirPutin, Russia is not at war.
We lost our lands, we lost our homes.
kindly help us… like send someone… hey help us get our lands back.
Ukrainian servicemen drive a Soviet-made T-64 tank in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, on August 11, 2024.Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images
But war by any name is an unpredictable beast.
Few expected Ukraine had the ability or desire to invade Russia apparently not even Moscow.
Thats not what is happening now.
Its not a raid.
This is something different, former Ukrainian defense minister Andriy Zagorodnyuktoldreporters.
This may complicate Moscows efforts to dislodge the Ukrainians.
It is, after all, difficult to simply arrest a battalion of unfriendly mechanized infantry.
As a result, conscripts have generally been assigned relatively safe tasks inside Russia.
Like guarding the border.
This is why veteran Ukrainian fighters are now capturing large groups of surrendering Russian conscripts in Kursk.
The first enemy forces that the Ukrainians ran into were FSB border guards.
And then conscript units serving within Russian territory, according to Russian law, Barros says.
They have also shown drone footage of columns of hapless Russian reinforcements being destroyed by long-range precision artillery.
There is evidence of Ukrainian soldiers and equipment being destroyed in Kursk, as well.
The ultimate goal of Ukraines operation is unclear.
A Ukrainian defense official alsotoldPoliticothat Putin had ordered some troops to be pulled out of Ukraine to defend Kursk.
Or it may be a strategically symbolic move.
This would be a familiar experience on the other side of the border.
Unlike Russia, Ukraine is at war.
Here, no corner of daily life is untouched by the conflict.
Its been a difficult year, and there are signs everywhere that Ukrainian morale is flagging.
Shortly before the 11pm curfew in Kharkiv, the power is out.
The streets of Ukraines second-largest city are ink-dark and eerily quiet.
Its an elderly woman standing silently with a bouquet of flowers.
Shes been selling flowers in the street for seven years.
Neither bombs nor blackouts will stop her.
Isnt she afraid to stand on a dark street during an air alert, curfew just minutes away?
Not really, Galina says, clutching fresh-cut irises, a bucket at her feet.
I live nearby, and will stay until the last minute.
Someone may still come along and buy the last of my flowers.
Ukraine rushed thousands of soldiers north to hold the line, and stopped Russian forces cold by July.
The renewed fighting brought dozens of villages back into the fighting.
Understandably, not everyone wants to leave their home, even when ordered to do so.
But its not the case.
There are established evacuation routes, shelters, and support.
Russia stepped up its air attacks in concert with its ground offensive.
On some days, the air alerts could last as long as 16 hours.
The attacks destroyed an electricity plant one of Ukraines largest that powered the city.
Officials estimate it will take upwards of a year to repair and bring back online.
Kharkiv is known for its engineering, machinery, and electronics industries.
The power loss brought the citys economy to a standstill.
Kharkiv is dangerous, but its still infinitely safer than many of the frontline villages, Serhiyenko says.
Here we are prepared.
Things are quite efficient now she says, despite the rolling power outages.
Russias goal this year has been to complicate the strategic picture for Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the year, Russian strategic air attacks have been dismantling Ukraines economy.
Central to that has been the methodical destruction of energy infrastructure.
The result has been a summer of tribulation.
Power outages are common.
Streets that were already perilous with aggressive drivers have become lethal with unpowered traffic lights.
And mobilization is a hot topic.
These efforts have increased as Kyiv seeks to mobilize as many as 200,000 additional soldiers.
Mykola not his real name is a 21-year-old student at the Odesa Maritime Academy.
He has wanted to become a merchant seaman and travel the world since he was a boy.
He will graduate in a year, and is ready to pack his bags and go to sea.
Men under 60 are not allowed to leave the country.
I dont know what the war will be like next year, Mykola says.
Maybe I will have to join the army if I stay.
That seems more likely.
Certainly in Odesa, corruption and smuggling networks existed before the war.
I give money to military units.
I help them buy drones.
I donate to wounded soldiers.
Im more useful here than I would ever be in the military.
If they decide to examine me, it probably wont work.
But it should be enough that they leave me alone on the street.
But the vast bulk of Ukrainians have complied with the new regulations, some selflessly and others fatalistically.
He spent his life in the Soviet Army as a medic; many of his friends died in Afghanistan.
He has relatives in Moscow.
He hasnt spoken to them since the war started.
We all need something to brighten these dark times, and this is something I can do.
His son is serving in the Ukrainian military.
Viktor hasnt seen him in months, but hopes he will be granted leave soon.
Soldiers who do get to go home find cities transformed by war.
Moscow says Kharkiv is a Russian city.
Lately Russia started using glide bombs some with warheads as big as 3,000 pounds to prove their point.
Now the bombs and missiles fall even more frequently.
About a quarter of Kharkivs buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
But somehow, life goes on.
Pyana Vyshnia the name means Drunken Cherry is a bar located near the entrance to an underground walkway.
There are locations across the country.
Musicians play guitars and sing on the steps to the underground.
Theres dozens standing outside, talking, laughing, and drinking in small groups.
Drunks and homeless people weave through the crowd caging cigarettes or asking for change.
Babushkas hopefully peddle their wares: DVDs and trinkets.
There is a feeling of desperation in the merry-making.
It doesnt come across as defiance, or even hopefulness just a survival mechanism.
To hell with the war.
Two middle-aged drunks pester a young girl.
The drunks can barely stand, their words to her a slurry of incomprehensible innuendo.
Hes sober, clean, and strong, and hes not having it.
Buzzcut walks over and pushes one of the drunks off the girl.
The other suddenly awakens to the danger, and drags his friend away.
The soldier checks with the damsel hes rescued, seeking moral license to teach the drunks a lesson.
She laughs nervously, shaking her head.
Buzzcut departs slowly, glaring defiance and shouting a profane quip at the drunks.
A wave of laughter rolls through the scene.
The drunks dont notice.
Not everyones a Galahad in skinny jeans.
Another soldier is on medical leave.
He proudly shows a scar from a head wound, saying he was almost killed by a sniper.
A police patrol arrives, with three hard-looking men carrying battered wooden batons.
The burly cops immediately clock the dynamo of trouble.
They move to confront the wounded soldier.
The power is cut, and the street is bathed in darkness.
The merrymakers may need it if the missiles come.
The war is still here.
