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In Photos: Kharkiv Region Returns to Normalcy After Russian Occupation
Cities and towns across Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region are beginning to return to normal life after a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive this month sent Russian troops into retreat.
Civilians have been able to return to work, and reunite with their families after being separated for over six months.
Here is a look at scenes from recaptured areas of northeastern Ukraine:
Lidya Kandaurov, 58, shows her national flag that she hid during the Russian occupation that now bears the signatures of Ukrainian soldiers who liberated the village of Troitske.
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP
Eighty-year-old Garina Nazorenko reacts as her sister Olga Valkova, 64, returns to her home village of Troitske after six months and 11 days.
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP
Olga Valkova (L), 64, meets her 80-year-old sister Garina Nazorenko as she returns to her liberated home village of Troitske.
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP
Olga Valkova (L), 64, and Alex Vashchenko, 65, check their garden at her country cottage in Troitske.
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP
Ukrainian soldiers stand at a checkpoint in Shevchenkove, Kharkiv region.
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP
A woman looks at a destroyed military vehicle in the village of Husarivka, not far from the city of Balakliya.
Sergey Bobok / AFP
An employee looks at the cafeteria of a school that was used by troops as their base in the village of Nova Husarivka.
Sergey Bobok / AFP
A man walks past a destroyed military vehicle in the village of Husarivka.
Sergey Bobok / AFP
Residents charge their cellphones at a power plant in a street in Balakliya.
Juan Barreto / AFP
Two women walk outside the village of Kupiansk in eastern Ukraine.
Juan Barreto / AFP
