Kharkiv, a front-line city of millions in northeastern Ukraine, has been attacked by ballistic missiles, KOBs, strike drones and information and psychological operations (IPSs) every day since the start of a full-scale invasion.
In their propaganda channels, Russians mention Kharkiv almost daily, justifying shelling of the city and spreading fakes. However, in contrast to propaganda for the sake of justice, Ukrainian photodocumentarians work — local photographers and those who film the life of the city in the midst of the war.
When we talk about Kharkiv, first of all we mean its inhabitants, because the greatest value of every Ukrainian city is its people. It is thanks to the people, civilian and military, that Kharkiv withstood the beginning of the invasion, thanks to the people it continues to stand.
Russia has been waging an information war against Ukraine for centuries. Information pressure was especially intensified after the Maidan in 2014. The foundation of the disinformation campaign against Kharkiv residents was the propaganda of discord, which was supposed to sow separatist sentiment in the city and prepare it for the 2022 invasion.
“Why Russian Kharkov did not meet Russia with flowers.”
Photojournalist and documentarian Georgy Ivanchenko, talking about the first experience of filming the war, said in an interview for “UAPP”:
“The desire to tell about eventsbrings us to Kharkov. Obviously, this is the first major city on which there was such a massive blow, on which Russian troops are moving so actively. We know that Kharkov can be lost even before the start of a full-scale invasion. The attack on Kiev was a surprise for us, the attack on Kharkiv was not a surprise for anyone.”
Propaganda of discord are narratives about “territorial and mental closeness to Russia”, “Kiev's dislike of Kharkov and Kharkiv for “Westerners”, narratives about the “first capital” and hints of independence, intimidation by “nationalist orders” and “cult of the Bandera region”, allegedly implemented in Kharkov.
The enemy could not capture Kharkov, but he managed to occupy part of the Kharkiv region along with major cities, Kupyansk, Balakliya, Izyum. Most of the occupied cities and settlements were returned as a result of the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces in September 2022.
Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center(HAC), which collects and refutes Russian fakes, reported that since the beginning of the war, propagandists have been trying to intimidate Kharkiv residents with food crisis, hunger, humanitarian situation, mobilization. But at the heart of the propaganda of fear are topics such as “nationalist battalions” and preparing the city for surrender.
Already during the Great War, the Russians manipulated the topic of business relocation and invented fakes about the export of industrial facilities by the Ukrainian leadership to the West of Ukraine.
“In Kharkiv, there is a feeling of evacuation — entire factories are being taken out of the city, and the Kiev regime urges local residents to leave in the face of the threat of Russian “invasion”. At the same time, the Armed Forces are preparing the defense of Kharkov and concentrating additional efforts, equipment and weapons here. At the same time, according to experts, Ukraine is ready to surrender the city, but will arrange a certain attempt of active resistance here.” (“Arguments and Facts”).
“In Kharkiv, even during the war, there are probably more events happening than in cities that do not know what war is. Concerts are held here and theaters work,” says Yakov Lyashenko and also notes that new cafes are opening in the city. “People start from scratch. They worked hard under shelling in extreme conditions to open up. Such Kharkov residents did what they could to keep their city alive. Respect to them for that.” toldYakov Lyashenko in an interview for “UAPP”.
Propagandists are trying to destabilize the situation in the TOT of Kharkiv region through propaganda printed newspapers, shutting down Ukrainian television in the absence of Internet and communication. They spread fakes about the events at the front, “the capture of Kharkov”, “the indifference of the leadership to its own citizens”.
In March 2024, Putin announced the apparent need to create a “sanitary zone” along the border with the Russian Federation to protect the border territories from shelling. This statement launched a new wave of disinformation campaign.
Propagandists are trying to destabilize the situation in the TOT of Kharkiv region through propaganda printed newspapers, shutting down Ukrainian television in the absence of Internet and communication. They spread fakes about the events at the front, “the capture of Kharkov”, “the indifference of the leadership to its own citizens”.
In March 2024, Putin announced the apparent need to create a “sanitary zone” along the border with the Russian Federation to protect the border territories from shelling. This statement launched a new wave of disinformation campaign.
In April 2024, hostile telegram channels distributed a disinformation video with traffic jams on the way out of Kharkov.
In personal messages to Kharkiv residents, so-called evacuation memos allegedly came from the State Emergency Service.
The creation of the “North” group of the Russian Armed Forces on the border with the Kharkiv region, the assault in the north of the Kharkiv region, the extremely difficult situation in the energy system due to the shelling by the Russians of energy facilities contributed to the propaganda of fear.
There was an active campaign to discredit local authorities. They say that nationalist battalions created by the city leadership carry out punitive operations against Kharkov residents loyal to Russia, cover themselves with local residents and hold citizens hostage.
The Kremlin authorities continue to try to destabilize the situation in the city and the region due to the influence on the opinions of Kharkiv residents and rocket-bomb terror.
“I must say that even today the Kiev regime shows ingenuity. Under cover of a special operation, they skillfully carry out provocations under the guise of constant bombing and shelling of their territories in order to set the population against Russia” (“Southern News Service”).
So hostile propaganda justifies the shelling of civilian infrastructure, sets the local population against the Armed Forces, they say, Ukrainians are shelling themselves.
Missile strike on the typography “Factor Print”, May 23, 2024
“Ukraina.ru” admits that “the Russian army destroyed a civilian object in Kharkiv”, but, according to them, it has a justification.
“Another high-precision strike by the Russian army was inflicted on the Kharkov printing press Faktor-Print, which published extremist literature promoting and glorifying hatred of Russia.”
On May 23, Russian troops hit S-300 missiles according to the typography “Factor Print”. Seven people were killed and sixteen were injured. All of the victims are typography workers. At the time of the shelling, about 50 people were working there.
“And again, unfortunately, we have to use the DNA lab to identify bodies. Seven people died in their workplace. They printed children's books.
Five women and two men — each of them just doing their job. This printing house produced books for children, magazines, school diaries, newspapers and much more. Now there is no such enterprise in Kharkiv”, — wrotehead of the investigative department of the GUNP in the Kharkiv region Sergey Bolvinov in his account on the social network “X”.
Photodocumentarian Alexander Magula quickly arrived at the site of the missile strike, as the arrival occurred not far from his home.
“Ushly destroyed typography“Burning books,” says the photographer. “The women who died there were people who just went to work in the morning, for them it should have been an ordinary day. They were publishing books. The moment when rescuers take out bodies from under the rubble, or rather what is left of them, is always very striking and probably will never cease to amaze, — quotes Oleksandra Magula “UAPP”. — There I met several familiar firefighters, with whom I have worked more than once at the “arrival” sites. We were lucky that the enemy did not strike the same place a second time, as he had already done repeatedly.”
This is not the first shelling of printing presses in Kharkiv.
Airstrike on Aerokosmichny Avenue, June 22, 2024
“The Armed Forces wanted so badly to strike at the Russian border that they demolished a residential high-rise building in Kharkiv — 3 people were killed, 25 were injured.”
“And here is the destruction from the self-shelling of Kharkov. Obviously not from our CAB. Ukrainian social networks are trying to prove to us that this is our arrival. Attention question: and why the hole in the south wall of the house?”
UPD: Most likely, from the west side. But from the west of Kharkov, Russian troops and aircraft are not working.”
KHATSpublishes a refutation of this fake from the military-political columnist of the “Information Resistance” group Oleksandr Kovalenko with reference to TSN:
“He explained that the occupiers were publishing a video of a destroyed house,closing the lower part of the map, where the location of the hit is indicated and the alleged point with the location of the Ukrainian military responsible for the strike.
“But why did they do it in such a way that almost completely hides the bottom of the video? And the answer is simple - because there, ten meters away, there was a rip from an incoming bomb. And it did not fly from west to east, to the wall of the house, but from east to west, to the road,” the expert explained.
On June 22, as a result of air bomb strikes on the Osnovyansky district of Kharkiv, two people were killed, 52 more were injured, among them - 3 children.
“Explosions partially destroyedfive-story buildings, damaged a private house, five non-residential buildings, 16 trade pavilions, 25 vehicles, one trolleybus, two pharmacies and a car dealership,” it said “Nakpilo”.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and other agencies urged Ukrainians not to shoot or publish footage from the sites of Russian missile strikes, so as not to help the enemy to correct the strikes.
However, Russian propaganda for the third year of the war continues to use photos and videos from shelling sites in its propaganda against Ukraine. That is why every frame of Ukrainian photojournalists is important.
Georgy Ivanchenko, who recorded the crime of the Russian army at the landing site, commented on his photo: “Russian controlled shelling on a residential center of the city. People standing at traffic lights and public transport stops were injured.”
Aerial shelling of a high-rise building in Saltovka, 24 September 2024
Northern Saltovka is a sleeping area of Kharkiv on the side of the border with Russia. It was from there that the storming of the city began in 2022. This is the most devastated area, where, despite propaganda claims, there is no military unit.
“Kharkov. Not an artistic performance before Zelensky's visit to the United States.”
“Journalists who filmed the process of dismantling the rubble illuminated the place where the anti-aircraft missile that tried to shoot down the FAB flew.”
So Russia is trying to falsify the results of its shelling. However, many photographers, journalists, and documentarians usually work at the site of hits, who record the arrival from different angles.
“The Russian army attacked Kharkov. Once again, eight CABs were launched from the territory of the Belgorod region, six of which hit residential quarters of Kharkiv. One hit an apartment building that had already been renovated after shelling in 2022. The Russian army continues to bombard Kharkiv and its suburbs daily,” Ivan Samoilov wrote on his Instagram, documenting the scene of the arrival.
“The consequences of several attacks of FAB-250 in Kharkiv yesterday. As a result of one of the hits, several floors of a high-rise building collapsed. As a result of the attack, 3 people were killed and more than 30 people were injured,” Yevhen Gertner commented on his own picture.
The Russian army constantly uses Kharkov to work out its old modernized ammunition. These are the winged bombs that fly during flight.
“Kharkiv residents have somewhere between 4-6 minutes — depending on where the launch was made, where the bomb is planned to hit,” quotedDmytro Chubenko, spokesman of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office for the TV channel “FREEDOM” “Nakpilo”. A ballistic missile launched from Belgorod arrives even faster.
Timely provision by partners of the necessary air defense equipment, F-16s and REB aircraft could help solve the issue of defense of Kharkiv, which, despite the constant terror, continues to live.
“The full moon illuminates houses in which it is difficult to notice even a couple of bright windows. In the morning, people will appear on these streets again to live and create in Kharkiv under the Ukrainian flag,” — Ukrainian photodocumentary filmmaker Ivan Samoilov.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers has already written about how Russian propagandists justified the attack on the Kharkov “Epicenter”by launching fakes in tiktok.
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