Unlike Kyiv, Odessa and other big cities, Kharkiv is visibly battered by the war. The windows of homes and shops remain boarded up. Some rural parts of the province are barely hanging on. Shops and businesses began to reopen last summer, and people in Kharkiv shared the country’s widespread belief that a Ukrainian victory was within reach. That optimism is long gone. Some who returned have begun to leave again, though so far the numbers are small. Is there hope for Ukraine regaining its lost territories ?

