Linchpin of Ukrainian Defiance, a Southern City Endures Russian Barrage
Since the war began, Russian forces have pummeled Mykolaiv, frustrated by their failure to capture it and advance west toward Odesa. But the city’s resistance has hardened.

Almost encircled in the first weeks of fighting, it has pushed back, becoming a linchpin of Ukrainian defiance on the southern front. But at regular intervals, with missiles and artillery, Russia reminds the 230,000 people still here that they are within range of the indiscriminate slaughter that characterizes Moscow’s prosecution of the war.

A Russian strike on Friday killed one person and injured 20, several of whom are still hospitalized. Mykolaiv is no longer under immediate threat of capture — a Ukrainian counter offensive in the south is unsettling Russian forces — but the war’s toll is evident. Once a summer tourist destination, a city with a lovely setting at the confluence of the Southern Buh and Ingul rivers, Mykolaiv has become ghostly.
Read more

@nytimes