Despite the ongoing war, Ukraine must already work on reconstruction. But due to the extensive destruction, this seems impossible without international help. The country is therefore hoping for the reconstruction conference in Berlin.
The sun is burning hot on North Saltivka – the district of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine that suffered the most from Russian air and artillery attacks. Many houses are still badly damaged today. Tatyana Viktorovna has just fetched drinking water from a public distribution point.
“The city is helping a lot – the problem is that our whole neighborhood is destroyed,” she says. “The city can’t help everyone. I’m grateful for the new windows. In the regions that are not so badly destroyed, reconstruction is also taking place. In those neighborhoods, houses are constantly being repaired.”
Viktorovna’s house, however, is still badly damaged. The pensioner and her husband have to repair many things themselves. Viktorovna also had to pay for the installation of the new windows, which were financed by the city.
“Schools and kindergartens are destroyed”
Visit to the small town of Izyum, about 120 kilometers southeast of Kharkiv. More than a year and a half after the recapture by the Ukrainian army, a similar picture emerges here. “The most pressing problem is reconstruction,” says Mayor Valery Marchenko. “There is a lot of destruction. Almost eighty percent of residential buildings are damaged, thirty percent of privately owned houses. That is the main task at the moment.”
The most important utilities are functioning again. Almost 80 percent of the buildings have electricity, water and heat. “We now have to rebuild the infrastructure. Schools, kindergartens and administrative buildings have been destroyed.” Without international help, reconstruction is impossible.
Russia targets power plants
The state lacks money – and the municipalities have hardly any income of their own due to the destruction. Ukraine is therefore hoping for concrete commitments at the reconstruction conference in Berlin, including in the area of energy security. Targeted Russian air strikes have now massively destroyed Ukraine’s energy system, explains Georg Zachmann from the Helmholtz Institute. This affects a large part of the flexible capacities, especially the old coal-fired power plants, says Zachmann.
“Unlike in previous years, when the Russians mainly attacked the transmission networks, the power plants have now been attacked, partly destroyed, partly rendered unusable to a certain extent. And it now looks like we have a difficult summer ahead of us and an even more difficult winter if the right measures are not taken.”
Tensions in domestic politics
Many people in Ukraine hope for concrete results from the reconstruction conference. But tensions in Ukrainian domestic politics could prevent the country from rebuilding.
The head of the Ukrainian Agency for Reconstruction submitted his resignation on Monday. Mustaqfa Nayyem justified his decision by saying that his agency had been obstructed by the Ukrainian government.