Themes by tag: reconstruction

The NGO Building Ukraine Together (BUR) is launching a two-week volunteer camp in the village of Byshiv, Kyiv region, where volunteers from Ukraine and abroad will collaborate with local youth to create a new community space. The initiative aims to provide a safe, welcoming, and inspiring environment to replace what was lost during the early days of the full-scale war.

In 2022, the community found itself on the front line – some nearby villages were occupied, and Byshiv suffered extensive destruction due to its proximity to heavy fighting. The community lost many key institutions, including the House of Culture. Since then, young people have had no dedicated place to gather, learn, or socialize outside of school.

To respond to this need, BUR and the Byshiv community will convert a room into a proper youth space. This will become a hub for learning, creativity, and community life.

The youth space will be created during a two-shift BUR camp (September 7-14, 2025, and October 26-November 2, 2025). Each shift will bring together around 20 volunteers, half local, half from across Ukraine and abroad. Beyond the building work, evenings will feature cultural and educational programming: excursions, workshops, and team-building activities.

For reference: Building Ukraine Together (BUR) is an all-Ukrainian non-governmental organization that engages young people in volunteer activities and non-formal education, empowering them to take part in building a democratic Ukraine.

• reconstruction
• volunteers
• Kyiv

The Kharkiv-based charitable foundation Rescue Now was established by local residents following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, the organization launched its Reroot initiative, reaching 164 settlements and benefiting 44,000 people across the Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions.

The project aims to support communities by providing planting kits, including seeds and fertilizer, to help restore food independence in territories recently liberated from occupation. Currently, the foundation is focusing on 15 orphanages in the Kharkiv region, where it is installing greenhouses, distributing preservation kits, organizing educational workshops, and offering psychological support for children and staff.

Building on the initiative’s early success, the team has developed a mobile application designed to engage a wider audience in Ukraine’s ecological recovery.

Participation is simple: users download the app and contribute 10 dollars or more to plant trees. In return, each user receives a virtual plot of land where they can plant trees and track their growth. Once enough funds are raised to plant at least 30 trees, the organization carries out the actual planting in line with seasonal requirements. Each planting is logged in the app, and participants receive notifications on the progress of their trees. The first round of planting is scheduled for late fall, with plans to plant more than 1,000 trees by year’s end.

The Reroot team is available for consultations both online and in person in Kyiv, by appointment.

• ecology
• reconstruction
• Kyiv

The third season of the International Building Camp (INBUT) is underway this summer, with volunteers working in the recently liberated areas of Ukraine’s Chernihiv region. By the end of November, the team aims to complete the full reconstruction of seven homes that were destroyed during the fighting.

The initiative invites volunteers from around the world to take part. In addition to rebuilding efforts, participants can engage in various social activities, including movie screenings and board games.

This year, volunteers from Chile, Puerto Rico, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Scotland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France, Australia, Sweden, and Canada joined the initiative.

Journalists may cover the volunteers’ work upon prior coordination with organizers.

For reference: INBUT is a project launched in 2023 by the NGO Repair Together. Last year, it drew volunteers from across the globe, including the United States, France, Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Austria, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Chile.

• reconstruction
• volunteers
• Chernihiv

Anton Dykhnich, owner of a coffee shop chain in Kyiv, operates one location near the long-suffering Lukianivka metro station, which has been repeatedly damaged by Russian shelling. The café, which first opened four years ago, was initially hit by a blast wave from a missile strike in March 2022.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the team has adapted to resume operations quickly after each attack, learning how to limit the damage and continue serving customers. Small appliances and utensils are routinely secured in safe storage to protect them from shrapnel. In a further precaution, several front windows have been replaced with PVC panels.

By 7 a.m. following the latest strike, the staff was already coordinating their tasks and brewing coffee. Anton says the team draws strength from loyal customers who see the café as a symbol of resilience. Patrons express their support in many ways, including offering to launch fundraising efforts for repairs. But Anton declines such offers, instead urging them to donate to the Armed Forces.

Visitors can meet with the café’s staff both online and in person by appointment in Kyiv.

• casualties
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Duarte Casanova, a 24-year-old volunteer, hails from Lisbon, Portugal. He studied in Denmark and earned a master’s degree in environmental engineering. 

After graduating, Duarte set off to travel — and his first destination (in the fall of 2024) was Ukraine. He says it remains his favorite country, which is why he decided to return once more.

In 2024, Duarte joined the volunteers of BUT (Building Ukraine Together) and helped with the renovation of a cultural center in the Chernihiv oblast. More recently, he worked in the Kherson oblast, restoring homes of civilians affected by the war. He mentions that he previously assisted Front Power in Dnipro (making power banks for the army), the Volunteer Kitchen in Lviv, and Kitty Pechersk in Kyiv. He is currently volunteering in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk oblast.

Journalists have the opportunity to meet Duarte Casanova in person in Kramatorsk until July 20 or later in Lviv by prior arrangement. Online communication is also possible.

• reconstruction
• volunteers

Reconstruction has begun on a building at Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, nearly a year after it was hit in a russian missile strike that killed three people and wounded dozens more.

On June 6, the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital signed agreements to begin restoration work on its medical and diagnostic building, which was damaged in the July 2024 attack. The project, including construction and technical oversight, is expected to cost 295 million hryvnias (about USD 7.2 million) and will be funded by the Okhmatdyt – Healthy Childhood Foundation.

For reference: On July 8, 2024, a russian Kh-101 cruise missile struck the hospital while 627 children were inside. A doctor and a patient’s relative were killed at the scene, and 35 others were injured, including nine children. Two days later, a critically injured boy who had been in intensive care died in a Kyiv hospital. Five hospital buildings were destroyed or damaged in the strike, and medical equipment worth an estimated 338 million hryvnias was lost.

• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Since 2014, Dmytro Lozhenko, a Kharkiv resident, has been helping people with limited mobility, the elderly, prisoners, and individuals struggling with alcohol or drug addiction.

In Kharkiv, Dmytro established shelters for those he supported. When the full-scale invasion began, the people he had helped became volunteers themselves, initially focusing on evacuation and reconstruction efforts. Through his NGO, “I Am Saved,” over 40,000 people have been evacuated from frontline areas and more than 5,000 homes have had their roofs and windows repaired.

Recently, Dmytro and his volunteers started a new initiative involving free salvage operations in Kharkiv’s war-damaged buildings scheduled for demolition. They carefully collect personal belongings and transport them to storage facilities where items are kept until owners can retrieve them for their new homes.

Dmytro Lozhenko is available for interviews online or in person in Kharkiv by prior arrangement.

• reconstruction
• volunteers
• Kharkiv
• evacuation

Before the full-scale invasion, Nelli Ernandes served as director and lecturer at Makariv medical college in the Kyiv oblast. During the occupation, russian forces destroyed much of the town, leaving the college dormitory roofless and its façade, internal floors, windows, and doors obliterated.

After the liberation of the Kyiv oblast, Nelli immediately sought ways to restore the dormitory. With support from the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine, reconstruction began in December 2022. By September 2024, the community celebrated the reopening of the renovated dormitory, which now houses 60 students, including internally displaced persons.

Nelli Ernandes is available for interviews online or in person in Makariv by prior arrangement.

• occupation
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• women
• Kyiv

The company “Skeiron” was founded in 2016 by a team of like-minded people in Lviv. The main goal of the project is to preserve and promote cultural heritage through digitization. The team digitizes significant Ukrainian monuments, both preserved and lost. They believe that this will help to restore these landmarks in the future.

During their work, the specialists have managed to digitize and recreate over 200 structures, including monuments destroyed during the war. In particular, the company has digitized in 3D format the Mariupol Drama Theater, which was destroyed by russia.

You can communicate with representatives of the “Skeiron” team both online and offline, by prior arrangement.

• culture
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• Lviv

For more than 32 years, Valentyna Hantseva has worked at the library in the village of Soldatske, Sumy Oblast. Just months before russia’s full-scale invasion, the library underwent a modern renovation and received new equipment. But when a russian airstrike hit the village center during the occupation, the library building was left in ruins. Only the roof and walls remained intact, while the blast wave devastated the interior.

Despite the occupation and the constant threat of russian aircraft overhead, Valentyna and her husband began salvaging books, hiding them in grain sacks to keep them safe. In total, she managed to rescue more than 1,000 volumes.

In April 2022, Ukrainian forces liberated the village. With support from a benefactor in Germany, the library was restored, and by the fall of 2022, Valentyna was able to reopen its doors to readers.

For reference: By April 11, 2022, then-Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi announced that Ukraine had fully regained control of its state border in the Sumy region.

• culture
• occupation
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• women
• Sumy