Page 56 - bne monthly magazine October 2022

56 I Eastern Europe bne October 2022
Flats blasted and scarred during Russian attack on outskirts of Kyiv / bne IntelliNews.
Kyiv's suburbs are healing from the brutal Russian occupation
Dominic Culverwell in Kyiv
Kyiv's satellite towns are heal-
ing. It may not look like it at
first when walking through the war-torn streets littered with crumbling apartments, shrapnel-damaged roads and burnt-out cars, but six months after Russian troops occupied Kyiv’s suburbs, life is finally returning.
The damage from the occupation is immense. Investigators reported that Russian forces murdered, raped and mutilated civilians in Bucha, Hostol- mel, Vorzel, Borodyanka and Irpin, leav- ing behind over 1,300 bodies. Stories
of children being raped by Russian sol- diers and citizens mercilessly executed became known in April once the troops left. The massacre shocked the world and led to Russia being suspended from the UN human rights council, a new wave of sanctions and helped fast-track Ukraine’s EU application.
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In the rural stretch of land between Kyiv and its suburbs, farm workers harvest the late summer crops. According to my friend Nick, a Bucha native, mines are still hidden in the fields and continue to cause injuries to farmers. Russian troops have been accused of deliber- ately mining Ukraine’s fertile fields, wrecking the country’s agricultural industry, which will have an impact on its economy for years to come. The cost of surveying lands at high risk of mine contamination and demining is esti- mated at nearly $500mn, with financial support from Nato helping the demin- ing operations.
After arriving in Bucha, Nick took me to a flattened home improvement store, Epicentr K, Ukraine’s leading DIY chain. Although packs of building materials were stacked high in the car park, no one has started the rebuilding work yet. The
government promises that reconstruc- tion will begin when the war ends, Nick informed. But three people were already taking matters into their own hands and were sorting through the piles of rubble surrounding the vast warehouse.
With the government busy directing funding toward the military, it is the citizens themselves that have begun to rebuild their home towns and look after the communities. A short drive from Epicentr K is a traditional Ukrainian bakery that sells fresh bread that would cost a fortune in an artisan London bak- ery. But here a loaf of bread doesn’t have to cost anything. After the full-scale invasion began, the owners switched to a donation-based system so that those without money are still able to eat.
As we continue our journey, Nick notes the number of people, particularly chil-