People are picking up the pieces around Kharkiv after liberation by Ukrainian forces

Burned-out Russian tanks stand on the road between Malaya Rohan and Vil'Khivka, Ukraine, just east of Kharkiv. Both villages were in Russian hands for much of March and into April. (Jason Beaubien/NPR)

MALAYA ROHAN, Ukraine — The village of Malaya Rohan, east of Kharkiv, lies largely in ruins. Burned-out tanks are sandwiched between collapsed buildings. Hot tub-sized craters pock the roads. The school is shattered.

Sergei Shapoval is one of the luckier residents. His house is still standing, though most of the windows are broken. A grenade went off inside and shrapnel ripped through his television. He and his family fled to a bomb shelter, the basement of his aunt's house, in the first days of the fighting. Russian troops took over his house and camped in his living room.