“Houses must be rebuilt. Now I see the problem not in a specific department, politics or city government, but in general in the lack of a mechanism of action”.

Oleksandr’s family suffered twice. The Russians fired rockets into both buildings where the family owned housing. Their apartments were destroyed, first at Zestafonska Street, 8, and then at Kamianohirska Street, 6. However, now they have something else in common – being not reconstructed even though the city authorities promised so.

The Russians regularly bombard the city due to the proximity to the front line. As of November 2023, 12 high-rise buildings were hit by Russian missiles in Zaporizhzhia. The last one was shelled quite recently, on October 18.

The stories of the reconstruction of these two buildings in Zaporizhzhia vividly illustrate the general concerns with this process in the city. This is the lack of normal system communication, and at least minimally understandable action plans, and the recovery mechanism itself. There is no need to talk about one more important problem — inflated numbers and “necessary” developers, because we must at least reach this stage. For now, the residents of the affected buildings are forced either to continue using the damaged apartments at their own peril or risk, or to look for others.