A refugee from Kharkov at a temporary accommodation center in the village of Malinovka, Belgorod Region. Archival photoMOSCOW, March 30The most critical humanitarian situation today is developing in Ukraine in Kharkov, said Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation. «The humanitarian situation in a number of settlements controlled by the official Kiev continues to deteriorate rapidly, while the most critical situation is developing in Kharkov today. A curfew has been introduced in the city,» the general said. He stressed that local residents, fearing provocations from nationalists, are forced to take refuge in basements. In many houses there is no heating, electricity and gas, public utilities do not carry out restoration work. According to him, grocery stores in the city are open two to three hours a day, there are practically no customers in them, since many people simply ran out of money. The men who remained in the city do not leave their houses — they are afraid that they will be forcibly taken to the territorial defense battalions. death» in Kharkov
