Despite a ferocious bombardment, Kharkiv has held out

to pinpoint exactly where the two-pronged Russian , Ukraine’s second city, came to a flaming halt at the end of February. To the south, the hulk of a blasted tank remains on the road where it was destroyed, just before it reached the airport. In the north, the shell of an armoured personnel carrier lies opposite a home-improvements superstore. Look at the locations on the map and Russia’s military logic becomes clear. Both lie diametrically opposite one another on the ring road around the city. Just as in Kyiv, the Russian assault on Kharkiv, which is less than an hour’s drive south of the Russian border, has been thwarted. Just as in Kyiv the Russians remain to the north of the city and in an arc around the north-east. But there the similarity ends. Kharkiv has been subjected to massive and indiscriminate missile and artillery strikes which have hit the town centre and destroyed both obvious targets and random buildings across the entire city. Unlike Ukraine’s capital, Kharkiv has also been attacked by Russian planes.