Ukraine’s war dilemma: Rebuilding in the midst of constant Russian attacks
- Earlier this year, the World Bank said the cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction over a decade would be US$411 billion – 2.6 times its GDP in 2022
- Fixing the colossal damage is further complicated by the non-stop bombardment of Ukrainian cities as Russia grinds through the second year of its invasion
Picking her way through charred ruins with a flashlight, Tetiana Bezatosna returned to her flat after it was pummelled by Russian bombardment. The Ukrainian mother-of-two has little hope it will ever be rebuilt.
Her home in the northeastern city of Kharkiv is among hundreds of thousands of war-damaged civilian properties in Ukraine, with recovery at vast expense expected to take decades.
Fixing the colossal damage – unlike anything seen in Europe in decades – is further complicated by the non-stop bombardment of Ukrainian cities as Russia grinds through the second year of its invasion.
Highlighting what residents call the slow pace of recovery in Bezatosna’s Saltivka suburb – a hellscape of shell-pocked buildings and ravaged shops – jackhammers and cranes hovering over the damaged sites lie largely idle.
“We are not expected to return here soon,” Bezatosna, 44, as she walked up to her ninth-floor flat.