[Huntingwhale]

Update from my wife's village, Kozacha Lopan in the north of Kharkiv Oblast.

Spoiler!

This morning (PM their time) my wife was talking to her Mom on the phone and could hear explosions in the background as they talked. Suddenly an explosion happened a lot closer, so she quickly told my wife she was hanging up and was running with her sister to the basement in the unit across the street.

Minutes later my wife got a call from her friend's father. He lives across the street from Mom and said as the explosions were happening, he saw out the window/balcony Mom and her sister running to their basement across the street, only for an explosion to hit a unit's roof and rubble fall all over them. He said he saw them both limp up and pretty much limp to safety.

Obviously my wife and I were quite upset to hear this, as we had no idea of the injuries or how serious they were. All we know is that the women managed to scurry away. A total of 15 projectiles (supposedly mortars, according to the Telegram chat) landed on my MIL's street. Why their street, we have no idea. Their street is away from the village's center, where most of the soliders and equipment are stationed. Occasionally they have soldiers patrolling their street. Could have been either the UA army closing in, or maybe the Russians using that street as a practice ground. All we can do is speculate what happened.

Then moments ago, MIL called again to say she was safe. Apparently as they were running, the explosive projectile hit the building close to them and the rubble missed them by a few feet. A bit scraped and bruised, but thankfully not as serious as we though it might be.

Unfortunately with my wife's family in the middle of it still, we don't have the option to change the TV channel or ignore it like many people are now. I wish we could, but we just don't have that option. As with everyone following this war, we are truly tired of it, my wife especially. The fighting north of Kharkiv city just under the border still rages on. UA army is pushing hard to take the E105 and T2117 highways by the border. The Russians are fighting hard to keep Kozacha Lopan under their control, as they supposedly fear if the UA army takes it, Belogorod will be within artillery range. Not sure how true that is, but Kozacha Lopan is a highly contested area that is also being used as a propoganda filming area to show the Russians back home how the brave Russian forces are "liberating" Ukraine.

There is news in Kherson that the Russians are trying to instill the Russian Ruble as the main currency. Same thing happening in KL. The store is now being stocked with food and medicine from the Russians. Except you can only pay in Rubles there now.