Vladimir Putin’s army hasn’t made much headway in Ukraine this year, and his territorial goals – annexing four Ukrainian provinces – remain elusive, despite more than four and a half years of war. That explains his recent efforts to sap Ukrainians’ will to resist by launching relentless drone and missile strikes against their cities – targeting, among other sites, residential buildings, large open-air markets, shopping malls, the Dobrobut medical centre and the National Academy of Sciences, both in Kyiv. The capital has been hit the hardest, but other cities – Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Sumy – haven’t been spared.
Air-raid sirens pierce the quiet of night. People scramble to shelters (assuming there are any nearby) or, in Kyiv, race to below-ground subway stations. Even walking along city streets, shopping, or filling up your car at a garage forecourt – which are prime targets – can lead to injury, or even death.
