KHARKIV, UKRAINE, Apr 17 — Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that Kharkiv risks becoming a “second Aleppo” if the US does not vote for new military aid to provide Ukraine with air defense systems to prevent long-range Russian attacks. The official said this in an interview with The Guardian journalists published on April 17.

Ihor Terekhov said Russia had switched tactics to try to destroy Kharkiv’s power supply, which is why the city is experiencing long, unpredictable power outages. He says the $60 billion US military aid package, held up in the U.S. Congress since the autumn of 2023, was of “critical importance” for Kharkiv.

“We need that support to prevent Kharkiv being a second Aleppo,” Terekhov said.

Russian and Syrian governments bombed Aleppo during the civil war in Syria since 2011. Russians started actively using “double-tap” attacks that they are now inflicting on Ukraine — hitting first responders who arrived at a hit site with a second missile or drone strike — in Syria.

As Kharkiv Region Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported, since the beginning of this year, Russia has conducted 2,500 attacks on civilian targets and critical infrastructure in the Kharkiv Oblast with S-300 missiles, Iranian-made Shahed drones, or guided bombs. 

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  •  The transfer of air defense systems to Ukraine by other countries is a political issue, stated the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his evening address on April 7. He believes that transferring air defense systems is a task for the military and diplomats.