Successful Restoration Сases in Hostomel

Hostomel is a village in the Kyiv suburbs in the eastern Polissia region, which hosts the nearby Antonov Airport. In the first days of a full-scale invasion, the Russians planned to use it to transfer their troops for the future capture of Kyiv. Instead, the airfield became one of the crucial sites where their plan faltered, as the Ukrainian army successfully repelled the enemy. Although the Russian advance of Kyiv suffered a defeat, the occupiers caused many ills during their month-long occupation, marked by abductions, tortures, and killings of the locals. When the Russians eventually fled under the pressure of Ukrainian defenders, they left behind rubbish, dirt, looted and ruined homes, and the destroyed AN-225 “Mriya” – the world’s largest plane, which was parked in the hanga

In one of our articles dedicated to resistance to the Russian occupation, we explore Hostomel’s experiences during the first month of the all-out invasion. This text brings the village’s reconstruction into focus. In the “Restoration” project, we typically interview local authorities who could reveal the big picture. However, this time, we focus on two cases of individual initiative influencing recovery. The first is represented by the residents of the Pokrovskyi residential complex, who chipped in to restore the damaged façade of their house. The second case features a musician whose house was destroyed by a Russian missile. Instead of simply rebuilding, he chose to use his situation to demonstrate an alternative construction approach, saving both time and money.

A house in the Pokrovskyi residential estate: how residents spearhead the reconstruction

Liudmyla Kaminska resides in one of the houses damaged during the occupation of the Pokrovskyi residential estate in Hostomel. The complex suffered direct missile hits and extensive fire that swept through several upper floors. By December 2022, the residents restored the façade independently and asserted significant repairs from state authorities.

Four years ago, Liudmyla moved to Hostomel from Kyiv in pursuit of a quieter life. She fondly recalls what life in the residential estate was like before the full-scale invasion.

“Life was bustling here, and everything around was developing rapidly. All the places were inhabited and planted with flowers and trees.”

However, everything changed dramatically on February 24, 2022, as the house is located just one kilometre from Antonov Airport, where fierce fighting erupted. Residents of the upper floors could observe the unfolding battle from their windows.

Liudmyla evacuated from Hostomel on February 25, 2022. She left under fire and spent five hours to reach Kyiv – a trip that usually takes about an hour. On the same day, Russian military vehicles were already parked near the Pokrovskyi residential complex. On March 3, the Russians intentionally destroyed it, Liudmyla says.

“The Russian tank simply positioned itself on the bridge and began firing directly at the house.”

Most of the residents managed to evacuate beforehand. Those who remained spent the night in the basements as the Russian military later entered the apartments, forcibly evicting people and looting their property.

“[The Russians] plundered the entire house, taking whatever they could: food products, bedding, dishes, children’s shark-shaped slippers. They searched for anything, even the most bizarre and useless items, and, of course, looted all of it.”

When people began to return after the de-occupation, they found not only the house damaged from shelling but also apartment doors busted open, with dirt and garbage scattered everywhere.

“When I saw it for the first time as we were driving in from the Vorzel direction, I couldn’t hold my tears back. It was scary and unclear whether this house could ever be restored because the destruction scale was terrible,” Liudmyla recalls.

The house residents arrived gradually and started cleaning inside and outside the building. The acrid smell of burning lingered in the entrance until the summer of 2022, Liudmyla recalls. Initially, the neighbours started raising money to replace the windows in the entrance hall, and soon after, they reached out to the village council for help.

“The proposals announced to us [made it clear that] that recovery will take a long time. We had to either initiate something immediately or wait a long time.”

The real estate developer made a similar offer.

“We were offered to conserve the house, that is, to remove the hanging destroyed fragments, conserving the rest, and putting it off until better times.”

Nevertheless, Liudmyla, along with two other residents of the residential complex, didn’t give up on attempts to find other options and restore the building nonetheless. Eventually, Taras Dumenko, the then-head of the Hostomel military administration, put them in contact with rescuers. They helped to dismantle the hanging elements of the façade that could fall at any moment. Mr Dumenko also facilitated the contact between the residents and company representatives of the Leroy Merlin that distributes construction materials. The company’s representative office in Ukraine provided materials of significant worth. However, an issue arose with the official transfer of the materials to the community, as the company had not exited the Russian market. Additionally, the military administration aided in assessing the technical condition of the building.

Liudmyla took charge of finances, raising funds and transferring payments to contractors. According to her estimates, it is possible to restore the building façade facing the stadium for more than 700,000 hryvnias [around $17,300], while the conservation would require 300–400,000 [roughly $9,900] hryvnias. Approximately 40 % of the house residents came together to make the latest option a reality.

“We reached out to everyone looking for benefactors, but almost no charitable funds were attracted. I mean that all [we managed to restore] was thanks to the funds of the residents of our building.”

Liudmyla states there is still no chance of receiving state compensation for the funds invested in the restoration.

“The state provides an opportunity to receive reimbursement when the apartment is destroyed and you have not yet repaired anything. When you have already engaged in reconstruction on your own and have bills and certificates of rendered services, this mechanism is still ill-conceived.”

However, in 2023, the state held a tender for the major renovation of the building. Internal work began in October but was later suspended due to suspicions of fraud involving the contracted Hrynkevych family’s company. The reconstruction is scheduled to continue in 2024, following a repeated tender and the development of a new project that considers the work already completed. Specifically, the new project is set to repair the balconies and the inter-floor ceilings.

Liudmyla assures that she does not regret taking up the recovery efforts, and if she could turn back time, she would do the same. She claims people needed someone to bring them together because it’s always easier to engage when someone else has already started the common cause.

“You step in and start encouraging: ‘Come on, let’s give it a try!’ When there are people who are willing to help you and are ready to share the effort, it’s much easier. Some of us were doing one thing while others were doing another.”

According to Liudmyla’s observations, as of the beginning of 2024, most of the residents have returned to the building.

“[By the end of 2022,] there were at most 25–30 % [of the residents]. The lights were on here and there, but the house was dark and half-empty. If you return here this evening, you will see that many people have come back home.”

According to Liudmyla, recovery is a complicated process, but it is crucial not to give up. The publicity of the case played an important role: the woman launched a Facebook page to post reports and the community’s achievements.

“When our page is shared, thousands of people see it and pay attention to it anyway. And this, perhaps, also contributed to the result we have today.”

Liudmyla advises those who are willing to undertake reconstruction to gather like-minded people first. In her opinion, involving as many people as possible is essential. She believes that one proactive person may be ignored, but if dozens are putting effort into searching for opportunities to recover, people react to it faster.

“With a team of like-minded people, you take it on your shoulders and, regardless of anything, start working hard until you rebuild it.”

The “Kharchyshyn is building” project: an inspiration house

Valerii Kharchyshyn, the lead singer of the “Druha Rika” band, had his house in Hostomel entirely destroyed by a Russian missile at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. In 2023, not only did he decide to rebuild on the same site but also to integrate it into a broader social restoration project. That fall, Valerii launched the “Kharchyshyn is building” YouTube channel. In the description of the first video, the musician notes that he is ready to share his personal experience, offer advice for those whose homes were similarly destroyed by the Russian aggression, explain how the eVidnovlennia (ed. Ukrainian state aid programme for the restoration of damaged housing) government program functions, and what are the prospects for implementing the Law on compensation for damaged real estate. Valerii aims to personally attest that it is possible to build a house quickly and that frame construction is not a temporary measure but a proven global practice.

According to Valerii’s plan, his story of reconstruction should be scalable. As his channel’s description states, “‘Kharchyshyn is building’ is primarily a social impact project: together with you, we will build hundreds of such houses.”

“For someone who has lost one’s house, it serves as motivation. If I could do that, they can too,” he claims.

Valerii’s house serves as a direct example from which the others whose homes were destroyed by the Russian troops can draw inspiration to complete their own projects. Valerii funds the construction on his own. Concurrently, he provides informational support for the Natalia Kovalenko Foundation fundraising campaign, aiming to raise 2.5 million hryvnias to construct housing for the large family of Yulia Havrylenko from Moshchun, whose husband serves in the Ukrainian army. According to the musician, after completing the first stage of construction, it will become clear how much money is precisely needed. This amount will likely be slightly higher. However, if the same construction project is used in the future instead of developing individual ones, it will reduce the cost of further construction.

In financial terms, hopes are high for the eVidnovlennia program, which provides compensation to individuals whose homes were damaged in the war.

“We did not suffer due to our own carelessness. It was not like, let’s say, we were smoking in bed. Our houses burned down because the enemy came here to destroy us and our houses. Therefore, we shall either [rebuild] at the expense of reparations, or the state will compensate us and eventually recover these funds from reparations.”

Nevertheless, the current challenge consists of the fact that the state is still looking for a solution because its available offers are not suitable for everyone.

“Unfortunately, the [compensation] system is not perfect, and while I was looking into it, it changed three times,” he states.

Specifically, the state currently allocates money to purchase ready-made housing, although some people would prefer to use it to rebuild on the same site where they used to have a house. As a result, Valerii notes, people move away, and their cities do not recover.

“It is like we are producing some kind of ‘preserves’, meaning it will become a preserved region because everything is in ruins there. Whereas, our task is to restore it and make it better”.

Valerii says that when he first set out to rebuild his house, he had no funds because the band “Druha Rika” was donating all its earnings to the military. However, a businessman friend stepped in and provided $35,000 to rebuild his home. This money became a symbol of the beginning of his reconstruction efforts.

Valerii rebuilt the new house on the old foundation but redesigned a part of the area as a terrace; while the previous one had 220 m², the current one occupies 120 m².

“The house looks spacious inside due to the gable ceiling. It is quite large, though from the street, it might look like three sparrowhawks assembled,” Valerii says.

Valerii plans to build houses within the project that are also approximately 100 m2 in size. This will be sufficient to provide comfortable living conditions for families with two or three children.

Although Valerii is a musician by occupation, he has experience in building frame houses.

“What is a frame building by definition? It is basically insulation and wood or OSB (oriented strand board. — ed.), which is how they do it everywhere in Canada. While in Canada, I have never seen a single private house or a cottage made of brick or foam concrete. […] This may be unusual for Ukraine, but it is a widespread practice worldwide.”

Indeed, in Ukraine, a family often spends half its life building a house, limiting its other wishes, such as travelling abroad or buying a car. Meanwhile, during this time, the children, for whose sake this entire initiative began, grow up and decide to live separately.

“The time we spend waiting is life. Then, [the time] when we live in this house and give birth to children, this is also life. […] My eldest son will not live here anymore, although he still has his room here,” Valerii says.

According to Valerii, it is worth reconsidering the approach to building housing so it does not consume time and money that could be invested elsewhere. After all, he believes, there are always better opportunities to invest in.

“It is always better to buy emotions and, right now – donate to drones.”

Not coincidentally, one of the videos on the project’s YouTube channel is titled “My house was delivered in a minibus”. Valerii is building his house based on prefab technology, assembling pre-made elements like a constructor set. The human factor in this process is minimised, the elements are cut with CNC (computer numerical control) machines down to millimetre precision.

“Before starting the construction, you have to prepare a project. You need to submit it to an engineer, who will upload it into a program and cut your house into pieces that you will assemble,” he says.

Valerii assembled the house elements on the spot because delivering the whole house to the site would be challenging due to the landscape specifics.

“No crane will get here as there is no drive-in. The only chance was to drive through the forest, but no one could guarantee it would not get stuck in the sand or the soil. Therefore, we decided not to bring a ready-made house (there are such technologies) but to use a prefabricated modular construction made of small puzzles.”

Valerii manages the construction and takes part in the works not only out of personal interest but also due to the overload of construction crews across the country. Summing up, the current situation in Ukraine can be described as follows: there is a lot to rebuild, but there are not enough people to do it – there is a shortage of construction workers.

“We’re short-handed. The guys who used to work [in construction] are already mobilised.”

There is one poignant detail in the history of Valerii’s house construction: the pines that once grew in the adjacent area were cut down and burned during shelling, so he redesigned them into boards for the façade of his new house.

“It’s reminiscent of the Japanese shou sugi ban technology. As the workers cut wood on the sawmill, they asked me: ‘What do you have in there? Are those nails?’. And I replied: ‘Those are not nails. They are shell fragments’”.