Kharkiv Streets Draped in Anti-Drone Netting as Attacks Intensify
Kharkiv installs anti-drone nets over roads amid renewed Russian strikes, as a local maternity clinic adapts to wartime conditions.
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, is now using anti-drone netting to cover roads and supply routes in response to an escalating threat of Russian aerial attacks. The protective mesh, previously deployed in other parts of the country, has been installed for the first time in Kharkiv, a sign of the heightened danger facing the city.
Petrol stations and shopping malls are reported to be the primary targets of these drone strikes. In the northern districts of Kharkiv, roughly 20 miles from the Russian border, streets are largely deserted, with the lack of traffic adding to the city's tense atmosphere.
Amid this backdrop, a maternity clinic in Kharkiv continues to operate, with staff and patients demonstrating resilience after nearly four years of war. Two-day-old baby Anna was born during an air raid. Her mother, Irina, expressed a quiet hope for the future.
"We try to stay as calm as we can, keep going, stay strong and dream of a day when all of this finally comes to an end," she said. "When our children can grow up safe and in peace. And life can be the way it was before the invasion."
Medical staff at the clinic report a significant drop in the birthrate since the war began, alongside an increase in complications during childbirth. As safety often lies underground, the hospital is developing subterranean facilities to sustain its services if the conflict worsens. This is one of the first such underground hospitals in Kharkiv, with plans for more across the country.
The United Nations office in Kyiv reported that 1,396 civilians were killed and 7,978 injured in Ukraine during the first six months of this year. This marks a 37% increase from the same period last year and a 114% jump compared to 2024, attributed largely to more frequent long-range Russian aerial attacks. Recent weeks have seen heavy use of ballistic missiles, which Ukrainian officials say only the U.S.-made Patriot system can intercept, though depleted stocks of interceptors have left the country more exposed.