More than 860 buildings damaged by Russian shelling have already been inspected in Mykolaiv this year

The aftermath of the shelling of Mykolaiv on 25 May 2025. Photo: ‘NikVesti’, Serhiy Ovcharishyn

Since 2023, 5,307 properties damaged by Russian shelling have been surveyed in Mykolaiv. This year, experts have already inspected 861 properties.

This was reported by Olena Tuova, Head of the Department of State Architectural and Construction Control at Mykolaiv City Council, during a briefing on 28 August, according to NikVesti.

The register of damaged and destroyed property currently lists around 8,700 properties. Among those already inspected are 640 blocks of flats, 3,364 flats, 958 private residential houses and 338 non-residential buildings.

The number of inspections has increased every year. In 2023, experts inspected 1,008 properties; in 2024, 1,310; and in 2025, 2,128.

According to Olena Tuova, the significant increase in the number of inspections in 2025 was linked, in particular, to the heavy shelling of Mykolaiv on 2 August, which resulted in around 840 properties being damaged in a single night. At that time, residential buildings in the Korabelnyi district of the city were the worst affected.

Olena Tuova, Head of the State Architectural and Construction Control Department, and Ihor Nabatov, First Deputy Director of the Department of Municipal Services. Photo: NikVesti

The official also explained that inspections are not carried out solely on the basis of residents’ reports. District administrations compile lists of damaged properties, after which specialists from the Department contact residents and representatives of homeowners’ associations, management companies and housing and communal services enterprises.

«We do not carry out inspections solely on the basis of reports from the public. District administrations are the first to visit the sites and draw up lists of damaged properties. We then contact residents, chairpersons of homeowners’ associations and property management companies to inspect as many houses and flats as possible. We also put up notices and keep people informed via Telegram channels and Facebook so that they can get in touch and have their properties assessed,» explained Olena Tuova.

As a reminder, in Mykolaiv, 21 residential buildings were damaged as a result of Russian shelling on 4 August; two of them may be beyond repair. Fifteen private houses and six high-rise blocks were also damaged.

It should be noted that the selection process is underway in Mykolaiv for consultants who will develop restoration projects for 68 blocks of flats as part of the ‘HOPE’ programme, funded by the World Bank.

Earlier, the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine explained to NikVesti that the procurement process to select contractors for the development of projects to rebuild destroyed residential buildings in Mykolaiv had been restarted due to the requirements imposed on tender participants. The possibility of easing the conditions for participation in the procurement process is currently being considered, but for this to happen, the city council must submit a corresponding proposal to the World Bank.

HOPE: Housing Reconstruction in Mykolaiv

In 2025, it was announced that Mykolaiv would receive 150 million hryvnias from the World Bank to develop design and cost estimate documentation for the restoration of blocks of flats as part of the Housing Repair for the Restoration of People’s Rights and Opportunities «HOPE». The design work will be carried out not on a building-by-building basis, but in clusters. Each of the 21 clusters comprises between 2 and 5 multi-storey buildings that have been damaged.

Initially, the plan was to develop reconstruction designs for 54 buildings, but this number is now being increased to 69.

NikVesti asked the city authorities whether they would manage to rebuild the residential blocks according to the plans drawn up before the plans’ validity period expires. They replied that they were not sure whether they would manage to rebuild all the blocks by 2027. However, Mykolaiv’s mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, expects that once the project documentation for the restoration of the high-rise blocks has been drawn up, the World Bank will also fund their reconstruction.

Read also the article by NikVesti entitled «Reconstruction or just paperwork: how Mykolaiv will spend 150 million hryvnias from the World Bank»

It later emerged that this list included at least four blocks for which design and cost estimate documentation had already been drawn up — as reported in the NikVesti article «Reconstruction projects for four buildings in Mykolaiv to be commissioned twice: why this happened and how the authorities will avoid duplication».

The Department of Housing and Communal Services explained that the projects already drawn up by the city include stabilisation measures, whilst the HOPE project focuses on energy efficiency and urban regeneration.

«In any case, our projects are more narrowly focused than those to be developed under HOPE,» they added.

As of November 2025, tenders were still underway to select designers for the major refurbishment of the blocks of flats included in the HOPE programme.