2023-11-08 18:57:28
There is good news in Slatyne. “We are reborn, little by little”summarizes Evguen Ivakhnenko, the head of this village in the Kharkiv region who remained stuck for several months, in 2022, in the gray zone, that is to say between the Russian and Ukrainian positions.
Some 2,100 residents now walk the village’s earthy, hilly streets. This is far fewer than the 6,000 who lived there before the Russian invasion, but better than the barely 400 who remained at the height of the fighting. At the town hall, damaged last year by a strike, the melody of the circular saw and the passage of workers in paint-stained jeans augur a fragile return to normal.
A financial compensation program
“Obviously, it’s always risky to rebuild, you never know what could happen”, recognizes Evguen Ivakhnenko, black bag across his chest, between two interruptions by worried residents. Because Slatyne is only half an hour by car from the Russian border. Today, there are nearly 1,200 houses and buildings damaged, and 200 completely destroyed.
The thorny issue of reconstruction, carried until now mainly by humanitarian organizations, has entered a new phase in Ukraine in recent weeks with the acceleration of the “eRestoration” financial compensation program. In the Kharkiv region, the scene of violent fighting since the start of the Russian invasion, 21,743 requests for compensation have already been submitted through the Diia application, the Ukrainian digital government portal. But this process, which began in May and is arbitrated by local commissions, responsible for inspecting the damage, is not taking place without difficulties.
Workers gone into battle
On the edge of the village of Lebiaje, 50 kilometers east of Kharkiv, the energetic Nadia Agosta and her husband Ivan, retirees aged 66 and 72, are still waiting for an answer for the damage suffered by their house, struck twice in the first months of the war: a broken gate, a charred shed and a roof gone up in smoke, replaced today by a tarpaulin flapping in the wind.
As winter approaches, humidity is already seeping into the house. “I have already bought for 94,000 hryvnias (2 500 €) of materials, but you also have to find people to do the work», Ivan blurted. Estimated cost: 40,000 hryvnias (approximately €1,000), an amount that the couple does not have. Especially since there is a shortage of manpower, recognizes Hennadiy Tchekounov, specialist in the town planning department of the regional administration in Kharkiv. Many construction workers today serve in the Ukrainian army.
“Absolutely enormous” psychological needs
But in these hundreds of villages in the region, sometimes almost completely demolished, the physical destruction is only the visible face of the damage caused by the war. “The need for psychological support is absolutely enormous”explains Doctor Marko Isajlovic, health coordinator at the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization that provides health care in several villages in the region. “After two years of war, many residents have exhausted their coping strategies to stress.»
In Slatyne, in fact, no one forgets the proximity to Russia despite efforts to rebuild the village. Natalia Tchoukhichina, who arrived in April, feels safe there. But his native village of Oudi, a few hundred meters from the Russian border “will never be rebuilt”, she thinks. Near the school devastated by a missile, another resident notes with a sigh that the young people will not return, “because the border is too close”. That afternoon, the only explosions that ring out are those of chestnuts among the damp leaves burning in piles near the kindergarten. That morning, the familiar roar of artillery echoed on the horizon. A routine that is likely to last for a long time.
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Support for kyiv ‘will never waver’
Foreign ministers of G7 member countries assured Wednesday November 8 that their support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion “will never weaken”at a time when kyiv fears that weariness will gradually win over its allies.
To this end, the European Union is planning a long-term aid package for Ukraine. of 50 billion euros, including 33 billion euros in loans and 17 billion euros in grants.
The Twenty-Seven are also studying a new series of sanctions against Moscow, which should include Russian diamond exports, once the G7 has agreed on a way to establish their traceability.
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