One soldier was stretched out on the top of a tank like it was his living room sofa.
With Ukraine's flag flying in the city once again, people clamoured for supplies, and spoke of all they endured.
"I was walking away ... when I saw an armoured personnel carrier coming onto the square with a Ukrainian flag: my heart just tightened up and I began to sob," Mariya Tymofiyeva, a 43-year-old resident said, her voice trembling with emotion.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syehubov said authorities were trying to record crimes committed by Russians during their occupation of the area, and recover the bodies of victims.
"We're asking everyone around about all the places of burial which can be found," he said.
Moscow denies its forces have committed atrocities in areas they have controlled since Putin ordered the invasion on Feb. 24.
DONBAS EYED
Russian forces still control about a fifth of Ukraine in the south and east, but Kyiv is now on the offensive in both areas.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych held out the prospects of moving on the eastern province of Luhansk, which together with Donetsk is known as the Donbas, a major industrial region close to the border with Russia.
"There is now an assault on Lyman and there could be an advance on Siversk," Arestovych said in a video posted on YouTube. He predicted a fight for the town of Svatovo, where he said the Russians have storage depots.
"And that is what they fear most - that we take Lyman and then advance on Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk," he said, referring to the twin cities taken by Russia after fierce fighting in June and July.
Denis Pushilin, leader of the Donetsk People's Republic run by Russian proxies said in a video post that Lyman remains in their hands. "The situation has been stabilised. The enemy naturally is trying to advance in small groups but (Russian-led) Allied forces are fully repelling them."
Meanwhile, repair crews have restored the two main power lines supplying Kharkiv city and its surrounds, power firm Ukrenergo said after Russian shelling caused blackouts.
Kyiv fears Moscow will step up attacks on its energy networks as winter approaches and is pleading for anti-aircraft technology from the West to protect the infrastructure.