Bitter Putin Unleashes Hell on the City That Humiliated Him

KHARKIV, Ukraine—The spring flowers have begun to bloom in the center of this city’s Shevchenko City Gardens, but there is no one around to see them. Instead, the streets are empty and a deathly silence hangs over what was once a crowded city of 1.5 million people, punctuated only by the regular sounds of artillery fire.

On my first night in the city, I was jolted awake at 6 a.m. by the sound of shelling. I could hear explosions at least every minute for the next hour and a half. Several were...