The walls of a multi-storey building in the small town of Luch, in southern Ukraine, are heavily pockmarked with shrapnel. In the larger holes, birds have already built nests. As well as on the balconies and in the apartments themselves. In the spring of 2022, the front line passed through the town. Active fighting lasted for more than 8 months, and today there is not a single surviving house here.
"We lived in the basement for more than a month, and only in the morning, when the shelling subsided a bit, we would run to the apartment to take a shower or get some of our things. We slept on pallets, along with all the neighbors. There were 12 of us living in a 15-square-meter basement. But we did not want to leave until the last moment. In 2014, we were already fleeing Donetsk. We started life from scratch here and it was very scary to lose everything again,” says Kateryna, 37.
However, when the house was damaged and the shelling intensified, Kateryna, her husband Serhii, 52, and daughter Yevheniia, 15, left the town.
We started life from scratch here and it was very scary to lose everything again.Kateryna, a 37 year old woman refugee from Luch, Mykolaiv region in Ukraine.
“On the way, we got to know that a piece of shrapnel had hit our garage. If we hadn't left that day, we would have had no chance of leaving, because the car would have definitely not survived,” Serhii adds.They lived in the Lviv region for almost a year, and in June 2023 they decided to return home.
“When we got back to our apartment, we didn't have a single window left,” Kateryna says. “There were pigeons on the balcony. A piece of shrapnel flew through the entire apartment and landed in the child's bed. By some miracle, it did not catch fire, otherwise we would have no place to go back to,” she adds.
CARE, together with partners from the Response Consortium supported USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), is replacing windows in this town. “We selected 3 communities and assessed the damage. Unfortunately, a lot of buildings need major repairs, and we are only doing light repairs to replace windows and roofs,” Anna Vasylenko, regional coordinator of Stabilization Support Services in southern Ukraine, tells us. “We have identified 12 apartments in this town”.
Current Challenges
According to local coordinator Svitlana Ginzhul, it is thanks to the opportunity to receive at least some support with repairs that people are slowly returning to the town. “Now we have electricity and gas back, and water is being brought in. The Internet connection is being restored. However, the school and kindergarten here are destroyed. Public transportation runs very rarely because there are no passengers. There is no work here, and people cannot get to the city because they have no means of transportation. Therefore, humanitarian aid and pensions are the only way to survive here. About 25% of the people who return do so because of your support,” adds Ms. Svitlana.
There is no work here, and people cannot get to the city because they have no means of transportation. Therefore, humanitarian aid and pensions are the only way to survive here.Ms. Svitlana Ginzhul, a local coordinator.
Leonid, 81 years old, came to Luch to look at the new window that was recently installed. He opens the window and listens to the birds singing. “I live alone, I get a small pension, and I definitely could not afford new windows. And you can't stay in a shelter for long either. Your help gives me hope that I will soon return home,” he says and goes to check with the coordinator when the repair work will be completed.
Now he still lives in Mykolaiv. The cost of his commute alone is 800 hryvnias, which is a quarter of his pension. Leonid is eager to return home and hopes that he will be able to do so soon.
Your help gives me hope that I will soon return home.Leonid, an 81 year old man on returning to Luch to look at the new window installed in his house.
People are like birds, they want to return to their nests. However, the scale of the destruction, the financial and emotional exhaustion caused by prolonged displacement, and the instability of the front line are still holding people back from returning.
CARE and partners are working to improve the humanitarian situation in the region and support all those affected. Due to the special weather conditions, window and roof repairs are critical in this region. Since March 2022, CARE has restored nearly 2,000 Ukrainian homes. This helps Ukrainian people return. Meanwhile, birds continue to pierce the plastic on broken windows and build nests where no families are nesting.