Ihor Ostrovnyi, Head of the Bilozerka Settlement Military Administration, on life under the russian missiles, shells, mines, and drones to which everyone is now accustomed

By Dmytro Syniak

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The central locality of the community, Bilozerka, owes its name to a large flooded White Lake, which is connected to the Dnipro river. The lake is actually located at the mouth of the main Ukrainian river, which flows into the Dnipro Bay of the Black Sea, forming many large and small islands. Now russian saboteur and reconnaissance groups are trying to infiltrate these islands day and night, thus testing Ukrainian military defences. This is why the phrase “help for the army” has a very specific meaning for the locals: if the military lacks the quadcopters, thermal imagers, night vision devices and other equipment it needs, the russians might suddenly show up in a village and kill someone’s parents, children, brothers, and sisters. Ihor Ostrovnyi, Head of the Bilozerka Settlement Military Administration, told Decentralisation about this, as well as about the extremely difficult living conditions and the struggle for survival of the local residents. As we talked, his voice was full of pain and despair, surprisingly combined with a sense of invincibility and complete confidence in the importance of what he was doing.

 

Home is best, even if it is the first line of defence

 

How does the community feel about the fourth year of full-scale war? What is the attitude of the people in the Bilozerka community?

- People are extremely fatigued. But despite everything, we are waiting for the victory, trying to do everything for it and believing in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Every week there are wounded and sometimes dead. We recently took a woman to hospital with a barotrauma. We are on the first line of defence: beyond the Dnipro there are already Muscovites. As a result, all the coastal villages have long since been depopulated. Every day there is shelling, air raids, explosions, blasts… There are only a few people left in these villages, who have been offered to leave a million times. There is no need to go far: in the village of Kyselivka in the Chonobaivka community, for example, there is a modular camp, where people can always stay. We can also go to Kherson, which is only 10 km away. We can even send these people inland if they want. But the people refuse to leave. What should we do here? At least we managed to take the children from the coastal villages after tough talks with their parents.

Why do people not want to leave?

- What material things can be more precious to a person than the home they grew up in and have lived in all their lives? You hold on to your home because it is a part of you, your soul. And in three years, people have adapted to these terrible realities and conditions. They do not give up, they work: they plant vegetables and plough fields. If they work, they live... I must also say that the settlement council has organised exceptional living conditions in the community. And here again, I am not talking about the coastal villages, where the situation is really bad. All the other villages... Our donors regularly bring food and hygiene kits to all their residents, as well as provide financial support. No IDPs have such conditions. If you are an IDP, you can expect a maximum of UAH 2,000 per month. And you have to rent an accommodation, have something to live on. So, it is better to stay at home. Again, I am not talking about the banks of the Dnipro. Death is there.

How many people has the community lost during the full-scale war?

- Three years ago, there were about 23,000 people, now there are about 10,000. Without all the measures I have mentioned, it would have been a disaster. With all these, somehow, we are still surviving. My greatest regret is not the number, but the quality of the people we have lost. Because about 60-65 per cent of those who remain are elderly people who simply do not have the physical ability to travel the world or pay rent. They cannot work much. And the problems in the community need to be solved immediately, so we need able-bodied people.

Have IDPs from across the Dnipro moved into your community?

- We do have about 2,200 IDPs, but they are not newcomers, they are local people who used to live on the coast. Now they have simply moved away from the water, inland. There is no shortage of housing for them because many people have moved to safer regions or abroad.

 

Destruction in the Bilozerka community

 

Medical services in our community have never been better

 

You mentioned the humanitarian aid provided to local residents. Are they receiving medical services in conditions where there is likely to be an acute problem with regular passenger transport?

- Of course they do! The Kherson Regional Military Administration and the Kherson Regional Healthcare Department organise mobile visits by various specialists. There is also a pharmacy on wheels that travels to villages and provides free medicines to some of the population. Others buy the medicines. Doctors from the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières also visit us from time to time. I have to say that we have never had anything like this before. We have never had this quality of medical service! We always had to go to Kherson if we had a serious health problem. But we have always been able to cope with ailments, so to speak. Not only do we have rural health posts in every village, we also have our own clinic in the village of Myroliubivka!

What do you think is the biggest problem in the medical sector?

- Shortage of staff. You can still get an ambulance from international donors, but where are you going to get a team of doctors? By the way, we have received a sufficient number of ambulances from our partners to replace the ones that were burnt and stolen by the russians. But now we take great care of them and do not allow them to go everywhere – for security reasons. As a result, there are no health services in the most problematic villages, but the few people who still live there are aware of the situation and have no complaints.

Do the schools work in the community?

- Before the full-scale invasion, we had 11 schools, and now only one is offline. All the others are online. But the National Government has set a deadline of 1 September this year to stop online learning. There is of course a logic to the requirement that children should start learning at school. But on the other hand, I want at least one primary school in each starosta district. This is part of the rural infrastructure, a guarantee that a village will have a future. We are already competing with other communities for people. They not only go where it is safer, but also where the infrastructure is better. So, I would not rush to close all schools. Otherwise, our villages will only have grandchildren for the summer.

How many children are there in the community at the moment?

- About five hundred, and the lessons are in a mixed format. When they are held in person, they are held exclusively in the new bomb shelter. Sometimes the children study to the sound of artillery fire, which can be heard from far away. It is now an integral part of our lives, as are the battles between our military and russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups. These groups have tried to break through the Dnipro many times, but they have never succeeded. First of all, thanks to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

What is the biggest problem facing the community, apart from the daily russian shelling of course?

- We have a catastrophic shortage of skilled workers. In medicine, in education, in utilities. At the moment, only a third of the positions in the settlement council are filled. We cannot find staff – unfortunately, no one wants to come here. We ourselves have long since got used to all this horror, but new people do not stay here for long. We have a home here, while they have nothing to keep them here.

Do you think, in the format of the Shoulder-to-Shoulder project, teams of experts from the partner communities will work for you on a rotating basis?

- I find it hard to believe. After all, the decision to go on such trips should be made not so much by the local council as by a particular person who is going to risk their own life with us. And if they refuse to go under fire, what are you going to do? Right now, as I speak to you, we have no electricity. It was cut off after yesterday’s shelling, so we had to use a generator. And there is no one to repair the damage because only one person survived from the previous team of five. The russians saw from their drones that the men had come out to repair the facility they had destroyed, and they targeted them. Who among the residents of the rear communities will agree to take their place?

 

Destruction in the Bilozerka community

 

When we asked for help, we only received letters of condolence and support

 

Are the consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam by the russians still being felt?

- Then the water rose to 4.20 metres, but despite this we had no human casualties, not even a single pet died! That is to say, both the regional and the settlement military administrations acted very quickly, notified everyone in advance and evacuated them. Within a month, the water had completely receded and everything was back to normal. The only thing that has changed is the configuration of several islands. But we can only see this from a copter, because there is no access to those islands now. Our partner regions helped us to restore order because they responded immediately to our needs. And not just them: the whole of Ukraine came to us! They helped us with vehicles and manpower. We had to demolish the flooded houses, remove the rubbish, and restore the electricity and water supply. And with their help, we were able to.

Which regions are your partners?

- Poltava and Kyiv regions. In the Poltava region, we have very close ties with the city of Lubny, and in the Kyiv region – with the Feodosiivka community. These communities have become our partners in the very useful and timely Shoulder-to-Shoulder: Cohesive Communities national programme of the Ministry for Development. By the way, we have recently received a delegation from the Feodosiivka community. We introduced its experts to our problems and showed them what we could. However, we could only invite our guests to two of the seven starosta districts, so as not to endanger them. And the delegation from Lubny is due to visit us any day now.

Do you have any specific ideas on how these communities could help you?

- First and foremost, we are concerned about the fate of our children. Fortunately, there are excellent camps in both the Kyiv and Poltava regions where they can be placed for a few weeks. We are asking our partners to help us build bomb shelters, also primarily for children. Because we are in the red zone, the area of active hostilities, we cannot participate in many government programmes. Almost all of the 25 villages in the Bilozerka community lie within a 30-kilometre zone from the Dnipro river. It is believed that it is too early to restore anything here. But how can we not? We have to live somehow! And, for example, 20 km from the Dnipro is quite a distance. Why give up on the villages there?

In such circumstances, it must be very difficult for you to ask for international help?

- As far as the reconstruction is concerned, it is very difficult. For example, the international organisation Support Service, which was affiliated to USAID, was supposed to give us UAH 1.5 million to organise a so-called veterans’ space. We worked with them on this for a long time. But USAID is gone. What can you do? In general, donors are helping us, I cannot say that they have forgotten us. Various international organisations, as I said, are giving us both financial and humanitarian aid. In most cases, we build bomb shelters together with the state: we pay half the cost and the state pays half. But in Myroliubivka we built a shelter together with donors. And thanks to this shelter, we were finally able to open a school there.

Is the Bilozerka settlement council still looking for donor funds?

- Yes, but unfortunately, we do it manually. We do not have a department or even a dedicated specialist to deal with this. Therefore, each employee of the settlement council communicates with international donors in their area of expertise, talking about certain needs. Me, my deputy, starostas, doctors, and teachers. It is faster and less bureaucratic. It is a pity that USAID has stopped its activities, we had many projects with them. But we are not giving up and are continuing to work. For example, we already have certain agreements that the project to create a space for veterans will be funded by UNDP.

Do you have partnerships with communities in the EU or other countries?

- Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to find such partners. We have sent dozens of letters all over the world, but have only received letters of condolence and support. I hope that through our partners in the Shoulder-to-Shoulder project, who are much further ahead than we are, we will be able to make some contacts.

 

It is difficult for you to understand our way of life...

 

Please describe the community budget. How is it filled in such a difficult situation?

- It is poorly filled because the business is almost dormant. As a result, the budget has been cut by about half compared to 2022, although it is still profitable. Some fields have been cleared of mines, but farmers are still in no hurry to get to work. Last year one of them bought seeds, planted wheat, and it grew, but one day the shelling started and almost 200 hectares were burnt. How can you work here? The state has also asked local councils not to collect land taxes from farmers in frontline areas during martial law. So even if they work, we will not really feel it.

How does the community support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Border Guard Service?

- Our most important help is human. Many of our young men and women have joined the army, and unfortunately there are already some dead and wounded among them. Our community also continues to help the military with its vehicles. With the help of these vehicles, many bomb shelters, concrete shrapnel shelters and closed gabions have been built in places of potential congestion. The money came from local and regional budgets. Donors also helped. In general, I can say that some of our utility vehicles are working 24/7 for the military. Everyone here understands that if we do not help our soldiers, the russians will come and take whatever they want, including our lives. As I told you, they are always trying to get to us through the Dnipro... It is a very serious obstacle, it is not at all easy to cross, and we cannot think of any serious breakthrough. But sabotage and reconnaissance groups are threatening us all the time.

What tasks do you face as a community leader? Which one is the most difficult

- Our most difficult task is to survive. After all, while a russian soldier can be stopped, a russian shell, missile or swarm of drones cannot. So, they fly at us, injure us, end our lives... Utility vehicles are burning, people are dying, houses are being destroyed, everything that has been created over decades is being destroyed. And every utility worker who deals with the aftermath of shelling understands that they could be the next victim. And they live with it, and we all live with it. This is what makes us different from you, people who live in Kyiv or even 200 kilometres from the front line. It is difficult for you to understand our way of life. For you, war is an air raid. For us, it is a shot from a cannon and an arrival in 3-5 seconds. In those five seconds, your whole life flies before you. Where will it fly to this time? You? Your wife? Your child? Your employee? Your house? Your car? This is the feeling we go to bed with and wake up with.

And yet you remain in your homes, on your land…

- Yes, and this is our conscious decision. We have to help those who cannot manage on their own. Because, as I said, we have a lot of elderly people. Who do you think they go to with their problems? The settlement council! And after each shelling, these problems increase. Of course, we buy construction materials and try to repair what the enemy has destroyed, but we have fewer and fewer workers to do so. There is hardly anyone left to clear the rubble...

In your opinion, what is the future of your community?

- When the war is over... (it will end some day!)... there will be a lot of work. First demining, then reconstruction. We will have to create jobs, encourage people to move to us. We already have ideas about certain programmes. And then there will be close cooperation with partners, both on the same project, for example the Shoulder-to-Shoulder project, and on others. Farmers will return to demined land, children will return with them, and then we will see how best to provide education for them. New schools will be built or old ones will be renovated. There will be plenty of fish in the Dnipro, tourists and children will come here for holidays. We are a promising community. We have fertile land, incredible landscapes and an extraordinary, magical river, the Dnipro. It is worth risking your life to preserve and protect all this, to protect it from the invader. It is worth fighting for.