PICS: Heavy Fighting as Russian Forces Battle for Control of Ukraine’s Second City

Ukrainian and Russian forces have engaged in street fighting in the city of Kharkiv (Kharkov) after an “intensive” artillery battle overnight.

Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv is known to many history buffs as the scene of a series of fierce battles between the Red Army and the German armed forces and Waffen SS during the Second World War, marked by large-scale tank clashes and bloody house-to-house fighting.

While much media attention has focused on the fighting near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv (Kiev) until now, Kharkiv — a key city just...