Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Part 2
Timeline of what has happened in and around the city of Kharkiv, and what the 21-year-old Ukrainian xenia has been going through
Events have been moving fast. Just in the last 24 hours, European countries have started sending weapons to Ukraine, and Russian banks are getting kicked out of SWIFT, the shared global communication system used for most international transactions. Most frighteningly, now that international pressure is mounting and heavy resistance from Ukrainian forces is making a rapid victory seem increasingly unlikely, Putin is putting Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert.
In the previous part of this series of articles on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I shared the story of xenia, a 21-year-old Ukrainian from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. She was kind enough to describe what she has been going through, and went into great detail, describing her situation inside the metro station where she was sheltering, what kind of thoughts and feelings she was having, and what she was doing to pass the time.
In this article I share with you a timeline of the events that have been unfolding in and around Kharkiv the past four days, using the updates xenia keeps sending through Telegram, news reports, and social media posts from Ukrainian officials.
NOTE: all times are local Ukrainian time (UTC +2:00).
February 24, from 05:00 onward
Russian forces begin attacking Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s largest two cities, with missiles and artillery fire. Airports all over the country are hit. Loud explosions and gunfire are heard near the airport.
The mayor of Kharkiv, Igor Terekhov, urges citizens to stay home, amidst country-wide reports of explosions and artillery fire. Schools and other institutions are closed. Public transport remains accessible. Inside the city a “steady stream of loud explosions” is heard. (Source: CNN, 2:31 a.m. ET, February 24)
February 25, 10:57
xenia: “So it's been over 24 hours since the invasion started. I'm not sure what to tell you, I mean right now we're relatively safe. I met up with my mom because there's a couple of ways things can develop. One of them is evacuation, the other one is waiting stuff out in a bomb shelter. Either way, I'd rather be with my mom and not completely alone with a bunch of strangers. Now we're just at her apartment waiting for the sirens because that would mean "absolutely get the fuck down to the metro and the bomb shelters". In the meantime we're overall just trying to pass time, watching the news, it's really stressful.
For now, it's fine. There are reports of Russians trying to break the defence around our city but they're holding. And yeah, we're just waiting because we don't really have any other option. We can't evacuate on our own because we don't have personal transportation and also that is just really dangerous when you don't know what's happening around you, there's no relative guarantee of safety for civilians, it's not advisable. So we're waiting for some sort of official organizing—if there is gonna be one—with trains, buses for people to start getting the fuck out. So we're either waiting for that or just waiting for things to stabilize more, who knows.
Bottom line is: relatively safe, really stressed out.”
February 25, 12:00-15:00
xenia: “Artillery outside the city, couldn't take it and decided to head down to the metro. It sucks not having internet but I feel safer here, but I dearly miss people to talk to. I am surfacing to catch some internet every once in a while.”
February 25, 18:00-20:00
Reports appear to show large explosions in Kharkiv. Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian President's Office, states that the military situation in regions like Kharkiv is the most difficult: “Quite heavy fighting is going on between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Russian Federation.” (Source)
February 25, around 22:00
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy makes the following statement from Kyiv: “This night will be the hardest. We must withstand. This night the enemy will be using all available means to break our resistance. This night they will launch an assault. This night will be harder than the day. Many cities of our state are under attack: Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, our boys and girls in the Donbas, the cities of the south, special attention to Kyiv. We can’t lose the capital.” (Source: The Guardian, 22:23 CET, February 25)
February 25, 22:36
xenia: “For the time being, we came back up to the surface to the apartment. We wanted to grab a couple of things but also mom is more comfortable here (I'm eating, fuck, I have to remember to eat). The next time there's gonna be either bombings or sirens or whatever, we're going down and I'm determined to stay put until they give us any clear information. I don't like sitting up on the surface where a stray missile can hit, even if it's not intended to go here but it's a possibility that it can happen. I don't like taking that risk but for now, I mean I'm already here, I might as well try to sleep in a comfortable bed. I dearly hope that I can get enough sleep, today I slept for like 4 hours and I'm so, so tired.”
February 26, around 7:00
The governor of Kharkiv (the province) states on his Facebook page that there have been “cases of defense breakthroughs”, whereby “several enemy tanks entered the city, after which they were destroyed and control was restored”. He also says that military objects, social infrastructure, including a children’s hospital, and residential buildings were hit by artillery fire.
February 26, 14:41
NOTE: xenia’s descriptions of the events of 26 February shown here are excerpts from a longer interview. For the full-length interview, go to the page below:
xenia: “This time we came to a different metro station than yesterday, it's a ghost town. The neighboring buildings are mostly non-residential. I think people keep going home when they think it's safe.
I'm not planning on surfacing unless it's clear that another attack on the city is unlikely, or when necessary. If it's quiet up there we can send a person up to get whatever we might need from up there and stay safe down here, otherwise there’s a lot of risk of getting killed by a stray shot for not much improvement.
Out of the last 57 hours I've slept for 8. I need to sleep but I keep thinking of contingencies and plans of action in various situations. I can't neglect my body so I think I'll take a sleeping pill and try to rest.
As I'm writing this, some people are coming by with food, tea, coffee, and even some chocolate which they are giving to the children here. Very heartwarming to see people helping, I'm crying right now. We need that kind of solidarity right now. A good act like that strengthens the feeling of community, which makes even more good things happen.”
February 26, 18:00
A curfew is imposed in the city of Kharkiv, that lasts from 6 PM to 6 AM, during which it is forbidden to move through the city. The Kharkiv Military Administration Department of Health reports 13 dead and 103 injured.
February 26-27, evening to early morning
Russian troops advance into the city of Kharkiv. During the fighting, a natural gas pipeline blows up. Citizens are urged to stay indoors as Russian forces, including armoured vehicles and tanks, make it to the city’s streets in the “central part of the city”. They arrive in the northern suburbs at 8 AM. There are reports of “heavy fighting”, with “intensive exchanges of rocket artillery”.
February 27, around 11:00-12:00
Ukrainian president Zelensky addresses the citizens of Belarus, which has directly participated the Russian invasion. Belarusian citizens are about to go the polls to vote for a constitutional amendment that would strengthen the pro-government ‘All-Belarusian People’s Assembly’ and allow the Eastern European country to host Russian nuclear weapons on their soil. During his speech, Zelensky implores the Belarusian people to wake up and help restore peace, so that the deliberate bombing of “everything that’s alive”, including kindergartens, residential buildings, and ambulances, can be stopped.
February 27, 11:50
xenia: “For me the 4th day of the Russian invasion started at about 6am, just when the military curfew lifted and my mom decided to grab some food from her apartment. To clarify, we have food with us but it's non-perishable, so it's more valuable that way and she wanted to eat the stuff that's still at her home that will spoil in a few days or will be inaccessible. She is now stuck up in her apartment because it's too dangerous to be moving in the city. I don't know the details but there's a lot of combat noise apparently. I found some spots where I can catch a connection without having to go up to the surface and texted my mom. She's hiding in her apartment bathroom, waiting for a chance to safely get back down here.
People here are ready to help in whatever way they can for all of us to get through this.
In the meantime the head of this metro station (that's a stretch of the title, she is literally just a worker that was supposed to be on duty here the day the invasion started) talked to the people staying here about some important things. I'm not going to list the whole thing but it was reassuring to hear people stay calm and focus on keeping order, peace, and health. People here are ready to help in whatever way they can for all of us to get through this. They called for volunteers to go up to the surface and receive a delivery of food but I think there's been complications, since we've been waiting on that delivery for over 2 hours.
I also had to cut my nails. they're just not practical in a situation where I never know what I might need to do. It had to be done but I feel really sad about that. My long nails gave me a lot of feminine power and gender euphoria. I mean my nails weren't Horcruxes, I still have all the feminine power in me, it just sucks. It took me half a year to grow them out to that length and I've had them for nearly 1.5 years altogether. I can't wait for the war to be over, so I can grow them out again.
I think the food delivery from the surface didn't happen, but they called for volunteers to go to a neighboring station to get supplies for others. We went through the tunnel and got kettles, bread and multicookers. They'll send other people to distribute that along one metro line on every station. I remember the Metro games (Metro 2033, Metro Last Light) and I never expected to have to go through the tunnels in real life.”
Also I'm making a decision to take charge of organizing people wherever possible. Our volunteer group that went out for supplies should have been more cohesive. We should've stayed closer together in the tunnel and on the station, and had a name for the current group for an easy rally. Organizing these things didn't even require any special skills, I've literally done this countless times when I was a counselor in children's summer camps. I know how to take charge and responsibility for a group, so whenever I see that's needed I will do so. This time I just expected someone else to step up, but I won't wait next time. Inaction doesn't help in such situations.”
February 27, 12:46
xenia: “I just got news that they closed the blast doors (I keep calling them that, I don’t know what they are exactly). Not sure why exactly, but this means that I'm cut off from my mother for good until those doors are open again.
My high score in Google's offline dinosaur game is currently 1549.”
February 27, around 13:00-14:00
In a post on his Facebook page, Kharkiv’s governor says that the Ukrainian forces have regained control of the city. Kharkiv’s governor also claims that the Russian soldiers captured by the Ukrainian army tell stories of “exhaustion and demoralization”, that they “have no communication with central commanders, do not understand or know their further steps”, and that “since the beginning of the attack against Ukraine, they have not got any provisions and water, their vehicles are not supplied with fuel.” He warns of Russian soldiers hiding among civilians, after he yesterday warned of “sabotage intelligence groups of the enemy” active inside the city.
February 27, 21:13
xenia: “Yesterday was not very good. I told you I was exhausted when writing (but I needed to get it out of my head), and then when I finally went to sleep I felt that I was having a hypomanic episode, or something close to that. Very distinctly unnatural, or disproportional high energy and positivity. I haven't had one in months before last night. I couldn't fall asleep in that heightened state, so I had to take some pills to help with that. Then I woke up to barely contained panic, as it turned out armed men were at the station and people were scared. Everything was ok though, since those were not Russians, just our guys trying to root out Russian agents and saboteurs. They were gone quickly enough and I went back to sleep.”
February 27, 21:17
xenia: “I'm preparing to go to sleep after this last round of texting. This time I'll be sleeping in a sleeping bag on the train seats since my mom isn't here. It sucks not knowing anyone on the station.”
February 27, 21:20
[asked about whether the ‘blast doors’ are still closed and whether she’s in contact with her mother]
xenia: “Yeah, they're closed. Both of us still have internet access, so we text. She's ready to come back, just waiting for a safe time to do so.”
Note: Post has been updated to include more organisations and platforms that help Ukrainians.
→ Want to help? Donate to organisations that are providing humanitarian assistance and evacuation:
The International Rescue Committee is providing food, medical care, and emergency support to families in Ukraine, as well as in Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen.
Ukraine Take Shelter is an independent platform connecting Ukrainian refugees with potential hosts and housing.
The World Health Organization is providing urgent healthcare to people across Ukraine and to refugees in neighbouring countries.
CORE, the Community Organized Relief Effort, is a crisis response organisation that brings immediate aid and recovery to communities in emergency situations. They are currently providing cash assistance and other vital help to families fleeing Ukraine to Poland.
Read more about xenia’s experiences in a full-length interview I conducted yesterday:
Read more about the complicated historical context of NATO and Russia's relationship: