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ITV News witnesses the battle for Kharkiv

ITV News has seen how the residents of Kharkiv have defied the odds in order to defend their homeland. The Kraken battalion took fire near the village of Rus’ka Lozova, just north of the city of Kharkiv, in a critical operation to reclaim territory from the Russians. Soldiers tended to a man hit by Russian fire - 87-year-old Ivan Gavrilovich. His vegetable garden was hit by howitzers. Just north of Kharkiv, the ITV News crew spotted a Russian reconnaissance drone above the road and warned the Ukrainian soldiers. The centre of Kharkiv is much safer than its northern suburbs - but it still bears the scars of almost three months of siege. Nowhere has paid a higher price than Saltivka - their blocks of flats face a front line which is still active - forcing the few who remain underground. Among the debris there is a young doctor making a video to cheer up her colleagues who have seen the worst of this war on their wards.