The sign in Kharkiv’s Freedom Square told us it was Day 448 of the Ukraine War and my third trip to the country in that time.
I was on the border for the initial refugee crisis, in West Ukraine for the food and fuel shortages of Summer 2022. I have be a volunteer with Scotland’s Edinburgh Direct Aid for nearly 30 years and spent 18 months working in Bosnia. I’ve seen my fair share of devastation… but nothing could compare to what I saw in Eastern Ukraine last week.
Accompanied again by fellow volunteer David Pond, we took the long journey from Krakow in Poland and based ourselves in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city. Kharkiv lies only 25 miles from the Russian border and was pounded by Russian artillery, missiles and bombs. The damage in Kharkiv (pre war population of 2 million people) has been put at 9 billion euros. Half the tower bocks in the city are now uninhabitable.
Every day the foreboding wails of air raid sirens warn of new air attacks, however its proximity to Russia usually means that the missiles have landed before the alarms can even start.
But despite this, the seeds of hope and regeneration are evident. A blistering Ukrainian counter offensive drove the Russian invaders, who Ukrainians refer to as Orcs, out of the suburbs and southwards to Izyum and beyond.
Kharkiv has a young vibrant and proud population, determined to get on with things and to defeat the nation whose language they spoke just last year. We connected with our partner charity “It’s close” for whom EDA had bought a van to assist with food deliveries .It was a collective of some of the most caring and able people I have met. Students, actors, videographers and musicians.
The food crisis is lessening as supply chains re-establish and we are moving to the next stage regeneration. The day we arrived, one of the group returned from a recce to the South of Kharkiv Oblast (District). He had been o Dubhon’ke a town formerly of 850 residents. He said thing were bad there, but that the people asked only for building supplies, not food.
When we researched the village we found this chilling video
We decided to assist and went shopping at one of Kharkiv’s huge DIY outlets. This is one of the quirks of the war. The economy is still working and you can buy most things- if you have the money.
We loaded up with carefully calculated loads of wood, foam, filler, cement and roofing materials and set off on the road south- the road that leads to Bakhmut.
The road was mined on either side and in the distance we could see plumes of dark smoke rising ominously. Burnt out Russian tanks and Armoured Cars littered the roads everywhere
I have never seen destruction like I saw in Dobhen’kke. It was a town that passed between Russian and Ukrainian control 18 times. The Russian soldiers who occupied it lived like animals, looting and trashing the village. Their detritus was everywhere- uniforms, ammunition, ration packs and offensive graffiti.
By the time the Ukrainian forces had finally routed them from their middens , not a single house remained habitable.it was obliteration. The streets were littered with destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles and munition cases.
But the worst legacy were the mines, booby traps and ordnance that littered the ground. You dare not step off a path. The grass is a deadly crop.
Daring not stray on to a verge I had to drive through a pothole, or rather a crater when suddenly a terrifying bang rang out. A tyre had been punctured on a shard of metal, that was later to turn out to be a rocket. I m not sure how may people can say they punctured a tyre on a Russian rocket.
After a difficult tyre change we arrived at our destination, a few small holdings where people had returned to their homes. We were introduced to one formidable lady who wanted to rebuild her life amongst this hell.
She showed us round and led us to the pile of munitions she had removed from her allotment- herself- anti tank rockets, parachute mines and mortars.
Two of the fields had been ploughed and planted around craters- from which rocket tail fins still protruded.
It’s surreal, terrifying and baffling at the same time. Why would you want to return to this I asked- because is her home, because is her life, because its all she has explains Natasha who is interpreting for us. For now they live in a small hut in the garden,
We are invited in to the house itself, about 12 x15 ft, the patched up roof, and crumbling plater show why they need help.
Over the next two days we brought tonnes of building supplies that will be used by the community to make 10 houses in the town weather tight. Our Ukrainian partners are exploring options with the district on reconnecting the electricity, if that fails they will source generators.
This is a community rebuilding Itself.
Dovhen’ke was once called a Ghost Town as nobody ever thought it could be inhabited again. Ukrainian spirit, resilience and determination with a few thousand EDA pounds has shown that ghosts don’t exist.
While Dovhen’ke was the worst devastation I had seen, nothing could have prepared me for meeting Luba in the Donetsk district. This fit 70 year old fled her home when the Russians invaded. Anther village devastated, destroyed and sacked.
Vasyl, a young videographer had found her living in her destroyed home in Bohorodychne. Her house had been gutted by fire as the Russians left- it wasn’t a case of not having a roof- it was a case of not even having walls.
This was an idyllic location, rolling green hills and beautiful rivers but now devastation and destruction everywhere. The Orcs had visited the Shire.
Luba used a particular type of standalone sink unit in her kitchen that was popular in this region, not dis-similar to a camping sink. And while the sink still stood defiantly against where a wall had once been, it was badly damaged and unusable. Vasyl knew that this was a priority for Luba had sourced a replacement with his own money.
We carefully made our way up a lightly trodden path through her mined garden and replaced the sink unit for her. She was delighted but I felt so sorry for this woman- trying too carry on living amongst the ash of what was once her her home. Defying the reality that her kitchen was now wall-less, determined to carry on. Like it’s owner, standing boldly alone, defiantly against all odd and surreally next to the stove she had recently excavated.
We replenished her water buckets, With no power, she must hand wind buckets of water from a nearby well and carry them through her mined garden. Vasyl is buying a generator for her next week and hopes to get the pump working again.
Luba insisted that we have some coffee with her and she put a battered kettle on the range and then, incredibly, placed a plate of freshly made cakes on an improvised tablecloth. Still houseproud.
In the part of the house that had walls she had tried to sleep in her old bedroom but had finally accepted that this wasn’t workable and instead slept in the grain cellar with its soil walls.
I asked our colleagues what her plans for winter were – she doesn’t want to think about it , but says she will not leave her house again.
Finally the team encourage her to take a medicine box but she declines saying that somebody else may need them more than her. She won’t take food either- except for the cats who she has adopted.
A remarkable, kind, selfless and strong woman.
Leaving her house, we passed the destroyed Orthodox Church with its once golden roof, burnt and bullet ridden and down to the main bridge that this town’s residents only 14 months ago would use to commute to Sloviansk. Or at least to where it used to be. The Russians blew it up as they retreated. It had only been built 5 years ago.
Back in Kharkiv we faced numerous checkpoints, had passports checked and photographed, vehicles searched and was even quizzed on, “Rangers or Celtic?.” Not knowing the ‘right’ answer in this part of the world I suggested that these soldiers had enough conflict in their lives without the Old Firm.
The following day we met with Maria Mezentseva MP, a senior politician in the Ukrainian parliament. We talked about what we had seen and learnt about the costs of rebuilding, the challenges of de-mining- currently expected to be completed in 750 years. The Ukrainian technologies being developed to speed that up and the regulation to ensure quality control of demining companies.
We heard about the booby trapped fridges left behind and the horrific secondary and tertiary explosives designed to kill deminers. It’s horrific.
We talked about the 20,000 missing children- abducted to Russia and some follow up introductions I can make with Charities who worked in Bosnia.
We also discussed the children who hadn’t been to school. First with COVID, then because of the war. They desperately need laptops and tablets to enable remote learning. Ukraine is looking to the future and I am now going to look at ways of supporting that taking new or nearly new laptops or tablets there. More details to follow on this one.
The privilege of doing this kind of work is being able to meet with recipients, hear their stories and offer them our support. I always make a point of showing them Ukrainian flags flying in Scotland and it genuinely brings tears to their eyes. They know they are not a alone. We also like to go that extra mile when we can. Afterall, what is a house without a hanging basket?
EDA will continue to do its work in Ukraine helping those most vulnerable. We are 100% funded by the public- no government donations, not even funding from the (frankly invisible) Disasters and Emergency Committee, but that’s a story for another day.
My next trip to Ukraine is in mid-June, with my brother. We will be taking specialist support vehicle to assist with work a Ukrainian NGO is doing with traumatised children. If you can assist with that or any of our other Ukrainian Projects please donate here.