"We cooked at home until the last minute. We used to go to the spring to get water, which was cut off literally in the first days of the war. It was very scary because sometimes we had to move around under shelling. It became unbearable when the gas pipeline was blown up. Then we were deprived of one more element of civilization. I decided to go to my friends in the central part of Saltivka. It was loud there too, but did not hit so often," says Oleh, the owner of a house where only walls were left standing.

Pivnichna Saltivka is a residential area of Kharkiv that has suffered the most damage from Russian shelling. The first destruction occurred on February 25, 2022.

According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, as of May 21, 2022, 70% of residential buildings and infrastructure in Pivnichna Saltivka were destroyed.

Until February 24, 2022, about 200,000 Ukrainians lived in Pivnichna Saltivka; as of January 4, 2023, there were 1,000 residents.
As of June 16, 2022, 35 people were killed, and 61 people were injured in the shelling there.

As of January 3, 2023, massive rocket attacks, tank and mortar shelling, and bombing in the Kharkiv region destroyed and damaged 9,617 buildings, including:

• 1428 buildings in Kharkiv (1019 multi-story buildings, 409 private houses);
• in Kharkiv region: 8189 buildings (831 multi-story buildings, 7358 private houses).
• Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, and as of early August in Kharkiv and Kharkiv region: over 1000 civilians have been killed in Russian shelling;
• 2000 civilians were wounded;
• 50 children among the killed
• the youngest victim of the aggressor's actions was a 5-month-old baby.

"The worst thing happened is that our children have learned what war is. The more moments they have with a smile, the better, so that this war will not be so dirty and scary," says Serhiy, a homeowner in Pivnichna Saltivka.

The battle for Kharkiv and its surroundings during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine lasted from February 24, 2022, to September 11, 2022. The Ukrainian army liberated more than 300 settlements in Kharkiv region from the Russian occupation.

*according to the Head of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, Oleksandr Filchakov