Handsome rooms, a hand-carved wooden bed and a chest of drawers he intended to leave to his grandchildren on his phone Vadym Zherdetsky shows photos of how it once looked, standing amid the wreckage of his home.
In February when Russia invaded Ukraine, on the outskirts of the capital two missiles struck the house in the tiny village of Moschun, ripping off the roof and nearly killing four family members.
In April the town was recaptured from Russian forces, but in the Kyiv region Zherdetsky’s house, like many others, remains in ruins.
The 51-year-old said, wiping away tears “Everything changed. Our lives changed”. “we are alive and healthy and Thank God it was only property. I don’t know where our kids and grandkids will live. I don’t know anything”.
From the towns around Kyiv more than six months after Russian forces retreated, to rebuild their lives residents of those communities are still struggling.
An estimated 1 million people, half the number who fled the region, have returned, according to local authorities. To fix their houses cannot afford and say they need more assistance, but many no longer have jobs.
In September according to a report issued by Ukraine’s government, the European Commission and the World Bank nearly $350 billion is needed for reconstruction across the war-ravaged country, and that amount is expected to grow.
The Ukrainian government strains to carry out the most urgent repairs to civilian residences, on the country’s power system burdened with the fighting and frequent Russian attacks.
In the Kyiv region, the area’s military administration said this month it plans to send 1,000 crews to do as much work as possible before winter, including fixing 117 high-rise buildings.
To receive compensation to a government app people submit photos of their destroyed homes. To repair his house has yet to begin, however, large-scale reconstruction such as the $300,000 that Zherdetsky estimates is needed.
At the start of the war Moschun, with a population of about 1,000, was hit hard. Approximately 37 people were killed and 160 homes destroyed, residents say. For nearly six weeks the town was occupied by Russian troops.
He designed to allow two of his grandchildren to ride through on their scooters at the same time Zherdetsky nostalgically points to the carefully constructed archways, walking through the debris, he said.
Above a convenience store they own on the edge of town he and his wife have moved to a cramped space.
Before Russia’s invasion he’s now earning about 10 times less than he did because people don’t have money to spend and prices have spiked, he said.
From buying building materials and warm clothes ahead of winter the drop in income has prevented him, he said.
Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv region military administration, told The Associated Press that Reconstruction is challenging, especially since 60% of the country’s budget is allocated for the war.
With missiles and drones the Kyiv region is bombarded. 28,000 objects were damaged in the region but we understand that everything is not happening as quickly as we would like. Kuleba said, who said housing is a priority “We will rebuild them all”.
To drive the nation into the cold of the impending winter Moscow is targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. It has destroyed approximately 40% of the country’s energy system by forcing Ukraine to impose rolling blackouts while racing to stabilize the grid, since early October.
From the mayor of Kyiv the strikes drew a warning, who said that for the worst this winter residents should be prepared, including the threat of having no electricity, water or heat.
Iryna Vereshchuk, the minister for the reintegration of the Russian-occupied territories said until after winter the government is urging Ukrainians who fled the country not to return, worried that the energy system will not hold.
About going back to areas around Kyiv that have been regained by Ukraine, analysts warn that displaced people should be cautious because some are not yet fully secure, especially with Russia’s military buildup in neighboring Belarus, which poses a risk of a renewed invasion from the north.
Head of the Ukraine forum at Chatham House, Orysia Lutsevych, a London-based think tank said “In the quest for assistance, Ukraine “still struggles to mobilize donors for rapid rebuilding and necessary security measures”.
Achille Despres, committee spokesman in Ukraine, said some aid groups are trying to help those who have returned. With power cuts, as well as insulation to help prepare buildings for the fast-approaching cold, the International Committee of the Red Cross gave two generators to help Moschun cope.
In July, other organizations provided some 60 prefabricated houses for those without shelter.
Those temporary houses won’t be warm enough come winter, yet Moschun locals worry that even with heaters. Many say they feel abandoned.
Nataliya Perekhrestenko, the deputy administrator of Moschun said “It’s like a dead city”. “About us we feel like no one cares”.
Source:- https://livenewzus.com/kyiv-region-after-russian-retreat-still-struggles-6-months/
