NOVOSELIVKA, Ukraine –
As the battles around Kyiv raged, a Russian advance was stopped in front of Maria Metla’s house. The artillery destroyed most of the house, while the rest was pulverized by tank fire.
Metla, 66, is now counting on her neighbors for a place to live this winter.
Teams of volunteers show up most mornings to remove anything that can be reused, laying out neat piles of bricks, kitchen appliances destroyed as scrap, and bits of insulation board.
The recovered material is being reused to help rebuild houses destroyed along the perimeter of Russia’s failed attempt during the initial stages of the war to encircle and capture the Ukrainian capital.
The village of Novoselivka, 140 kilometers (nearly 90 miles) north of Kyiv, was the scene of heavy fighting during the 36-day attack on the capital. Metal gates are shattered by holes from heavy machine gun bullets and houses like the one in Metla have been shattered by ground and aerial bombardment.
“We dragged what we could into the basement. Five bombs, one, two, three, four, five, exploded in the field behind us,” Meta said as she stood in what used to be the living room of her destroyed house. She keeps a burnt exercise bike and a religious icon of Saint Nicholas as reminders of life before the war.
Ukrainian authorities said last month that the country had suffered more than $100 billion, equivalent to two-thirds of its 2020 gross domestic product, in infrastructure damage alone, but estimate the rebuilding effort could cost more than seven times that amount.
Officials are appealing to Western countries to take advantage of frozen Russian assets in addition to what they are willing to donate to help foot the bill.
Container houses from Poland are being set up near Novoselivka, a town full of orchards, fields of sunflowers and backyards with chickens, on the outskirts of the historic northern city of Chernihiv. But the scale of the damage has prompted dozens of local initiatives.
“In many other countries, if your house is destroyed, you can put up a ‘For Sale’ sign and move to another city. This is not the case here,” said Andriy Galyuga, a local volunteer organizer. “People are very attached to their place of origin and don’t want to leave.”
Galyuga’s organization, Bomozhemo, is in touch with similar initiatives that have sprung up across the Ukrainian capital.
In a wrecked house, Galyuga climbs a broken ladder to lead a 25-member team of volunteers who load salvaged cinder blocks down a chute and determinedly remove construction material with picks and crowbars.
Children and retired women help in the effort watched by the home’s concerned owner, Zhanna Dynaeva, who prepares food for the workers, many of whom have also lost their homes.
A haggard-looking Dynaeva is staying with a friend, but she visits her house every day to keep an immaculate garden. She carries trays of drinks and sandwiches the day the volunteers come to visit.
“I am very grateful to them. The people around me have helped me a lot,” she said. As she reports her escape from the bombardment, Dynaeva breaks down in tears and is hugged by her homeless neighbor Metla.
“I hope I can stay on my property, maybe in a makeshift house to start with,” says Dynaeva. “I don’t know what will happen to us. Winter is coming soon. I just worry all the time.”
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Evgeniy Maloletka and Susie Blann contributed to this report.