Everyday life in Mykolayiv: repairing – is it even worth it?

Although Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine has repeatedly been hit with rockets, it is trying to somehow repair the damaged buildings. But building materials are scarce and expensive – and nobody knows: is it worth it?

Pensioner Lyudmila stands in front of the partially destroyed apartment building in Mykolaiv. The city in southern Ukraine is around 30 kilometers from the front and is regularly attacked. Russian rockets have also repeatedly landed in Lyudmila’s quarter, and their destructive force has severely damaged the light-brown blocks of flats.

Balconies were torn down, doors and windows shattered. The stairwells are riddled with shrapnel holes and there is still blood on many of the walls.

More than 130 people have been killed and around 620 injured since the Russian attack on February 24. A total of 1,200 apartment buildings and single-family homes were damaged in Mykolaiv alone. The city is now investigating statics and dilapidation, many buildings have to be demolished.

Many windows have been provisionally repaired with light-colored plywood panels or thick plastic film. But after the attack is before the attack, and many, including Lyudmila, doubt that a glass window is worth it. Although she has ordered a new pane of glass, she is wondering who is still doing major repairs – and whether she can pay for them. She has no more money for it.

plywood instead of glass

The craftsman explains that glass is significantly more expensive than the temporary solutions made of wood or plastic. He offers new doors and windows on slips of paper hanging in rows on front doors and mailboxes.

The installation of plywood panels with material costs the equivalent of around 15 euros – far less than the cheapest glass, because the square meter is the equivalent of almost 40 euros, with at least two weeks waiting time, the craftsman says on the phone. Production is halting because the Mykolaiv industrial area is repeatedly exposed to Russian attacks.

Production is only slowly starting up again

In fact, many companies have closed because of this. The Tribotechnika door and window factory has also been attacked several times, and the employees have collected a whole sack full of rocket remains. The company has resumed work since mid-March, but is currently only producing around 30 percent of pre-war production.

30 of about 60 employees stayed, says director Yuri Klimenko. But the work is only possible to a limited extent and takes longer due to air raids, shelling or the lack of public transport that employees can use to get to work.

Difficult procurement of material

Inventories in the warehouses were running out and logistics had also become difficult and expensive. The Black Sea ports are blocked, supplier companies are located in the Russian-occupied areas and Klimenko has to import himself, for example via the Danube port of Izmail. He and his employees often drive to the producers themselves to pick things up, because nobody wants to come to the dangerous Mykolajiev region anymore.

He does not make any significant profit from it. He makes a 10 to 15 percent profit, says Klimenko, with which he pays salaries and materials. The company has not even put back all of its own windows that were broken by the attacks. And Klimenko worries about kindergartens, schools and hospitals, because winter is approaching and it’s already getting cold in September.

Everything is difficult, but others in the industry have had it much worse, says Klimenko and tells of a friend who owns a glass factory in Russian-occupied Cherson – which was “completely robbed”. That’s why his job as owner and director is “to keep the team together and give people the opportunity to earn money so they can feed their families.”

And what happens now?

Everyday life in a war-torn city – and the constant uncertainty as to whether the attacks, which have not stopped to this day, will not increase in intensity again. Lyudmila keeps fighting back tears: “You don’t know what’s to come. What can I say when people here are so sad. I just want to cry.”