Standing atop the damaged roof of his house on the main road north from Kharkiv going to villages occupied by Russian forces until a few days ago, Konstantin Kharlamov, 53, had just two hours earlier watched black smoke billow in the distance.
His friend Vitaliy, 41, the smell of heavy liquor on his breath, said he also saw the explosion, perhaps just two miles away up Lesya Serdyuka Street in the direction of his home village, Strilecha. The departure of the Russians had three days ago given him the chance to move to a safer district of Kharkiv after two and a half months living under occupation. But he was now cut off because of renewed fighting.
