Saltivka district in Kharkiv has endured fear and devastation as missiles struck the area weeks apart, leaving a cascade of damage. Multi‑storey blocks with precarious overhangs, a scorched Barabashova market, and a hospital beside a Russian Orthodox church tell the hard truth of a city living under pressure. Across streets, bars, shops, small stores, schools, and sports centers bear the scars of war. To minimize light during air raids, residents shutter street lamps and windows, leaving the night a challenge for the eyes. Only a few abandoned cars drift through the dim avenues like fireflies in a dark sky.
These scenes, witnessed by this journalist as June ended, have persisted in the months since, corroborated by residents who stayed behind. Air-raid alarms pulse with tragic regularity. Peace for Saltivka remains elusive, a neighborhood where the conflict has rendered Kharkiv one of the most dangerous places in the country for months. For extended periods, authorities have urged some residents to leave, while many linger. This is daily life here—an ever-present sense of panic. In Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, Russian forces pursue targets at close range, while Ukrainian defenses strive to hold ground with a professional military response.
“There is almost nothing standing”
This is not the only place in Ukraine that bears the wounds of war. Six months into the invasion, similar scenes repeat in many anonymous villages across the Kharkiv region and into Donetsk, in a country still contested with Russia. In the south, cities like Odesa and Mykolaiv once faced water infrastructure challenges shared with the occupied territories. Local voices describe farms decimated and communities reshaped by cessation and displacement. A teacher from Odesa notes that some farmers resigned because nearly everything they owned vanished in the conflict, underscoring the wide-reaching toll.
A headline reality emerges from the frontline: shattered infrastructure stretches the country. In July, Ukraine’s Prime Minister estimated reconstruction costs at about 750 billion dollars, a figure echoed by other estimates, while global health authorities report hundreds of attacks on medical facilities in the period. The Kyiv School of Economics, in its August assessment, cataloged damage across sectors—hundreds of thousands of vehicles and machinery, thousands of kindergartens and shops, dozens of cultural centers, and hundreds of thousands of residential buildings affected since the occupation began. The winter that follows threatens a hard, bleak picture even in villages near Kyiv, where depopulation and desertion have left streets largely empty. Amid this, international aid for rebuilding has moved slowly, and corruption remains a concern on the broader assessment of the country’s recovery prospects.
Prefabricated housing for the hardest hit
In towns like Moschun, authorities have turned to modular, prefabricated containers to shelter the most affected residents through the winter. Given the vulnerability of children during extreme cold, this approach is pragmatic but insufficient, experts warn. Local volunteers and private groups, including branches of international humanitarian organizations, describe the process as a temporary measure while longer-term reconstruction awaits funding and logistics. The reality is slow progress, but for many families, it provides a critical stopgap while rebuilding plans unfold.
Images from Moschun show one example of the makeshift housing used to bridge the gap between loss and renewal. These temporary dwellings symbolize both resilience and the long road ahead for those still displaced or living with instability.
Official estimates indicate millions of people across Ukraine have lost homes, with many choosing not to return. Schools face interruptions in learning as the disruption of daily life extends beyond housing. Human rights groups have documented cases in residential areas where military activity damaged civilian buildings, underscoring the civilian toll of the conflict. The human cost includes thousands of lives lost and tens of thousands injured, underscoring the ongoing humanitarian crisis and the broader economic strain, with projections about the national economy reflecting the heavy damage to productivity and infrastructure.