I visited Ukraine last week to update my knowledge of the military situation there. I was privileged to be invited to visit Kharkiv by a friend – and spent several days there seeing the sights, while avoiding the more dangerous parts of the city where drone and missile attacks are relatively common.

There aren’t many trains to Kharkiv, and if you’re late in booking, then it’s an eight-hour bus ride from the capital Kyiv. Buses in Ukraine, like anywhere else, have their advantages. For a start, there is the opportunity to see some of the small and often very poor communities on the way. These towns say a great deal more about the country than the sophistication and relative wealth of Kyiv.

It is striking that while Kyiv has no apparent shortage of military-age men on the streets and in the bars and restaurants, the eastern towns and Kharkiv itself are notably man-free. When you do see males between 25 and 60 (the ages between which men are liable to conscription), they are clearly on leave from the front.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s Soviet capital between 1919 and 1934, was the centre of tank and military production until 2022. Now its dozens of factories are silent. With Russia about 25 miles away there is little warning for missile or drone attacks, and it would be impossible to sustain any kind of wartime production. The eastern suburbs have been ravaged by artillery and bombs and are almost........

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