Russia has accelerated its destruction of Ukraine's front-line cities in 2024 to a scale previously unseen in the war using glide bombs and an expanding network of airstrips just across the border.
With Russian troops on the offensive, Ukraine's second-largest city is taking the drastic step of moving classrooms for primary and secondary education underground.
A Kharkiv metro station became a bomb shelter as the city came under Russian attack. Now, at the holiday season, it's also a Christmas village where kids can drop off letters to Grandfather Frost.
While Ukraine's counteroffensive this month was hailed as stunning by military observers, Ukrainian troops tell NPR that Russian forces put up stiff resistance in parts of the Kharkiv region.