«The shell is still lying under the house»: how the destroyed village of Maksymivka changed a year after the occupation

Olena Kozubovska
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11:40, 15 November, 2023

A year has passed since the deoccupation of the village of Maksimivka in the Mykolaiv region, but local residents are in no hurry to return home. Since November 10, 2022, almost nothing has changed here, the village is 60% mined, and broken houses are a constant reminder of the difficult 8 months of occupation.

NikVesti visited Maksymivka and talked with residents who, despite the devastation, are trying to return to normal life.

Today, 10 families live in the village. According to Ivan Volko, the head of the Kyselivskyi Starostat, others also stopped by, but when they realized that they would not be able to rebuild their homes, they drove back.

— Those who have the opportunity and those who have partial destruction return and repair their houses, — he said.

Those who remained in Maksymivka have more or less rebuilt their houses and are preparing for a hard winter. Even before the war, there was stove heating here, so the residents of Maksymivka are not used to heating with firewood. The mayor promises that, like last year, people will be provided with fuel.

— There are offers to supply us with firewood, and we will supply it to these households, — says Ivan Volko.

There is water in the village, but the water supply is not centralized. There is a well in Maksymivka, from where people are forced to draw their own water.

On the positive side, electricity was supplied to the village during the year. However, only on the central street.

— Volunteer brigades from Ivano-Frankivsk and Carpathian Ruthenia stopped by. The central electrolep has been completed, electricity is supplied to the village, but there are some problems along Stepove Lane. Only one person lives there and 400-500 meters of wire are needed there. Demining had to be carried out before the electricity supply was carried out there. The demining was carried out, and the Snihurivka branch promised to provide it with electricity. The «April 10» organization brought her materials for the restoration of the house, in order to start the work, electricity is needed, — says the headman.

So, according to the residents of Maksymivka, charitable funds visit them from time to time. They help the owners of destroyed houses to rebuild their housing.

— Foreign volunteers came to us, they put up windows for us. Our house had no windows at all. Then the «April 10» organization promised us help, gave us a door, — says Natalya, one of the few residents of Maksymivka.

She and her husband returned to the village immediately after its liberation from the Russian invaders. At the same time, they began to gradually restore housing on their own. In Natal, the roof was almost completely destroyed, all the windows were broken, and an enemy dugout was dug in the very center of the house.

— When the war started, we stayed in the cellar for 2 months, then we left for Kherson. When ours entered Maksymivka, we immediately returned. Everything was destroyed, my husband and I are restoring everything little by little. Our roof was completely collapsed, only a piece of the roof was there, — says the woman.

Demining in Maksymivka has not yet been completed. According to the headman Ivan Volko, today the village is demined by only 40%. Many munitions are still undiscovered, especially when it comes to agricultural land. In particular, on the way to the village, you can see special signs that warn about the danger of mines.

— We still have a shell under the house. Miners came, took a look, said that it was deep, plaster it and live. They told us not to touch him and nothing will happen, he went very deep, — says local resident Olena.

The woman shows the place on the wall of the house where there was recently a solid hole. Recently, Elena's husband and son repaired the wall of the house, the family was helped to restore the roof and install windows.

— There was a hole in the house, the boys got there, but they have already earned money, they are helping us. «April 10» helps, «Caritas» helps, our community. We covered the roof with our own efforts, we were helped with materials, and we are still waiting for the repair of the gable from the «April 10» organization. They helped us put up the wall with cement and building materials, and the husband and son built the wall itself, — Olena recalls.

Most of the residents of Maksymivka cannot use the «eVidnovlennia» program, because they do not have housing documents. A total of three people applied for the rehabilitation program in the village.

— People apply, but only those who have documents for a house. But in the village of Maksymivka, most people do not have documents for the building. More often, the documents are not even drawn up, because in order to draw up the documents now, 10-15 thousand hryvnias are needed, but people cannot pay such sums. But here, 3 men have submitted documents for «eRecovery», as far as I know, they got into the electronic queue and they will go to them and calculate the destruction, — says headman Ivan Volko.

In particular, Slovak volunteers are helping the residents of Maksymivka to restore the roofs of their houses. So, with their help, the roofs of two houses were restored in the village today.

— This mainly concerns pensioners and those who cannot repair themselves. The material was provided to them, and Slovak volunteers are helping to restore it, — says Ivan Volko.

Since there are no shops in the village, residents have to go to the nearby Kyselivka for groceries. At the same time, according to the headman, humanitarian aid is brought to the village once a month.