More than a week into the assault on Kharkiv, the people’s spirit remains unbroken. For the last 10 days, the Russian army has launched missiles, airstrikes and artillery against the city of 1.4 million residents – including my girlfriend Nataliya’s family. Dozens have been killed or injured and some parts of the city are without power, water, or heat. (link) Before the war, Kharkiv was a cultural and economic center renowned for its museums.

Her parents still live on the outskirts of the city and her brother Michael lives in the city itself with his wife Daria and young son Leo, who is autistic. There is some good news that Nataliya’s ex-husband, Vlad, managed to escape Kharkiv and should return to the US soon. He had been visiting his parents in Kharkiv when the war started.

Her parents have been hiding in their cellar to avoid nearby explosions that have caused their windows to rattle. However, the cellar is too cold for them to sleep in overnight. The pet cat and Nataliya’s father have been comforting each other during the bombardment and are inseparable. The power recently went out, but luckily their house is heated by gas.

“We pray every minute,” said Nataliya’s mother, Iryna, via text.

Thankfully, they live on the fringe of the city, so they have some chickens, rabbits, and a small garden. Otherwise, they haven’t been able to go shopping, but a truck delivered a few loaves of bread to the neighborhood one day. All the neighbors are working together to help each other survive. A younger resident goes to the pharmacy to obtain medication for older members of the community. People buy extra supplies and share with anyone who might be running out of essentials.

Michael and his family live in a large apartment building and half of the residents have already fled. They mostly stay indoors except for occasional brief excursions to a small park across the street when things seem quiet. Leo, who is non-verbal, has already started to crack under the stress, even though Michael tried to convince him the explosions were only fireworks. The family wants to stay together but avoids going down into the basement during air raids. Michael fears they might be trapped if the only exit is blocked by debris.

Despite all the difficulties, Michael remains grimly determined.

“There is no need to plan ahead,” he wrote via text message. “When you plan one day at a time, it’s sort of ok, no matter how horrible this sounds. There is joy when you wake up the next day and check for family and friends and you can hear from them. We have hope that…there’ll be enough spirit to break the Russians.”

Although the future remains uncertain, Michael says they plan to stay in Kharkiv since it seems more dangerous to travel by car, especially with a small child who has special needs. However, they do have a plan to evacuate, and their bags are already packed if the need to leave quickly. Daria, Nataliya’s sister in-law, has lived in the same neighborhood in Kharkiv her whole life, so it seems more difficult for her to admit they might need to leave.

I understand the reasoning and realize fleeing wouldn’t be easy. On the other hand, I’m very concerned that the situation could only get worse as Putin gets more desperate. Despite sustaining considerable losses (at least 500 killed, 200 captured, and hundreds of vehicles destroyed or captured) over the first week (link), Putin’s armies have only captured one major city, Kherson, along the Black Sea coast. Kherson is only the 13^th largest Ukrainian city with about 280,000 residents before the war.

Although the Russians agreed to temporary local ceasefires in order to allow for civilian evacuations, the first such agreement in the port city of Mariupol collapsed after only a few hours (link). The Ukrainians say the Russians broke the agreement and continued to shell the city as civilians tried to leave.

I’m afraid civilians like Michael and his family will pay the price if Putin ratchets up the violence even more to eke out some meager victory. Putin set a precedent for brutality when he flattened the city of Grozny 20 years ago during the 2^nd Chechen War. In doing so, he killed at least 5,000 civilians. (link) With the whole world watching, I hope Putin won’t dare to repeat the atrocity, but we can’t rule it out.

Slava Ukraini!