From ruins to hope: the residents of Prybuzke told how they are rebuilding their homes

Residents of the village of Prybuzke, Mykolaiv region, already receive funds for housing reconstruction under the «eVidnovlennia» program, but they are not enough for the full reconstruction of their homes.

This is stated in the video report of NikVesti "From ruins to hope: stories of the reconstruction of Prybuzke».

The village of Prybuzke was at the epicenter of hostilities for seven months. Before the start of the full-scale invasion, 1,500 people lived in the village, now there are half as many, said Serhii Aldabaiev, head of the village of Prybuzke.

One of the houses that was damaged during the shelling of the village was the house of Yevhen Dyachuk.

«They started bombing around three o'clock in the morning. We were just sitting in the house. As soon as all this business died down, we immediately ran to the crypt. As soon as we ran there, a shell immediately flew at us. A cassette or something broke over the house. We go out, look — everything is broken under our feet, houses are on fire. So we stayed until the morning, and in the morning the soldiers took us away,» said the man.

His fellow villager Nelia Melchuk caught fire while working in the garden: «We arrived and I went to dig some potatoes and onions. And near me with these cassettes as much as possible. Here I fell, crawled and only asked God to «save and preserve.»

Today, the village is gradually reviving, but there is still a long way to go. Residents face the problems of lack of work, destroyed infrastructure and insufficient assistance from the state. Currently, residents are already receiving compensation under the «eVidnovlennia» program. Nelia Melchuk, a resident of the village, has already received 320,000 hryvnias for her.

«The commission came. They said that our house is partially damaged and they will give only 200 thousand hryvnias - no more. At first I said no, and then my daughter told me to take what they give, because then they won't give anything. Then came the funds for eRenovation — 460,000 hryvnias. 320,000 hryvnias came in, and 130,000 hryvnias are still to come,» said Nelia Melchuk, a resident of the village.

Yevhen Dyachuk, a resident of the village, also received funds under the program: «There was a commission. They came, calculated it all. We were given 153,000 for restoration and now we are already purchasing materials. We still need to buy doors and wallpaper."

«We can only count on the state, because we cannot do anything ourselves,» says Nadiia Kozlova, a resident of the village.

However, the lack of financial support forces many residents of Prybuzke to rebuild their homes at their own expense. At the same time, volunteer organizations and international funds are also helping the residents of Prybuzke to rebuild their homes.

«We invested a lot of our money, because the forest is very expensive, work. We spent almost 40,000 just to cover the house. Caritas helped us. We installed windows, front doors and made a ceiling at their expense. We overwintered with their money,» said village resident Hanna Diachuk.

Restoration of the Mykolaiv Oblast

As of February 2024, more than 30% of infrastructure facilities in the Mykolaiv region have been restored. Hospitals and bridges were restored the most, and the residential sector the least.

This year, the Mykolaiv region will receive 1.2 billion hryvnias for the implementation of four projects to restore the region. These funds have already been approved by the budget committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine at a meeting on March 25, People's Deputy Oleksandr Pasichnyi told NikVesti. Among the objects are the reconstruction of six sections of the waterworks in Mykolaiv, the restoration of the historical building of the Mykolaiv Gymnasium No. 2, the reconstruction of the Bashtan multidisciplinary hospital, and the restoration of the destroyed building of the Mykolaiv Lyceum №60 in Varvarivka.

And last year, the Service for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure in the Mykolaiv Oblast concluded contracts for restoration and repair of facilities for 7.8 billion hryvnias. This is the fourth place in Ukraine in terms of the amount of auctions.

Among the objects to be restored is the bridge in Voznesensk, which is located on the highway H-24 «Blahovishchenske — Mykolaiv». It was destroyed last year during battles with Russian troops for the city, NikVesti reported.

This year, they plan to start work on the restoration of Mykolaiv airport, which was destroyed at the beginning of the Russian invasion.

Prior to that, 789 million hryvnias were allocated from the state budget for the reconstruction of 16 objects damaged by shelling in Mykolaiv region as part of the fund for liquidation of the consequences of armed aggression. During the inspections, the State Audit Service found a number of violations in tender purchases for some of them.