Occupied, Host, and Liberated Communities: Current Challenges and Experiences

Publication date: February 5, 2025

Author: Yuliia Bilyk, Communications Manager of the Legal Development Network

What challenges do communities from occupied territories face in their places of temporary residence? How do host communities support them? What valuable insights can communities that have already experienced occupation, liberation, and recovery offer to relocated communities? These and other questions were explored by participants of the Open Online Discussion “Conditions for Successful Interaction and Development of Relocated Communities,” held on December 14 as part of an initiative by the Legal Development Network and NGO STEP to support temporarily displaced communities. Key discussion points are presented in this article.

Life in Relocated Communities

Oleksii Stepovyi, Deputy Mayor of Skadovsk (Kherson Region), shared insights into the experience of living and functioning as a relocated community. The Skadovsk City Community has been under occupation since the first days of the full-scale invasion. At that time, the city administration relocated to Lviv, temporarily operating from the premises of the Lviv City Council. The first priority, in cooperation with the USAID project, was the evacuation of residents from several occupied communities in the Kherson region. In addition to the Skadovsk Community, evacuations included residents of the Lazurne, Kalanchak, Oleshky, Hola Prystan, and Kherson Communities. In total, as Oleksii Stepovyi recalls, they managed to evacuate 2,700 individuals.

The Skadovsk Community also relocated the staff of the executive committee, financial department, economic department, and educators to a safe location to ensure continuity of operations. Once this was accomplished, the next challenge arose — resuming education in the occupied territory.

“No one could tell us how to do this. So, we decided to follow a simple principle: if you don’t know what to do, read the law,” says Oleksii Stepovyi.

The educational process was successfully organized online. In the initial months, students from other communities, such as Lazurne and Novomykolaivka, also joined the lessons provided by Skadovsk Community schools. Over time — at least a year later—when the situation had somewhat stabilized and military administrations were established, students from other communities transitioned back to their own schools.

Following the de-occupation of part of the Kherson region, the Skadovsk City Community launched the “Unbroken Workshop” project, aimed at supporting reconstruction efforts.

“We saw firsthand that after de-occupation, people return home very quickly and begin repairing their houses. That is why our project was not about distributing humanitarian aid — we took a different approach. In the liberated villages, we opened workshops equipped with tools for construction and repairs. People could come to these workshops to borrow tools and receive building materials. At the same time, they had to specify what exactly they were repairing (roof, doors, windows, etc.) and whether they would do it themselves or hire workers. This helped prevent situations where, for instance, aerated concrete blocks were left unused under plastic covers for months or, worse, resold to third parties,” explains Oleksii Stepovyi.

According to him, the majority of repairs involved restoring roofs that had been damaged by shelling and blast waves. Thanks to the “Unbroken Workshop” project, a significant number of residential buildings were successfully restored.

At the same time, the community also took steps to unite residents. The twin cities of Skadovsk are Stryi and Zolochiv (Lviv Region). The Skadovsk Community Administration specifically recommended these cities for relocation, knowing that they were prepared to welcome residents and provide decent living conditions. Indeed, both Stryi and Zolochiv accommodated many Skadovsk residents, who have since established NGOs, joined councils for internally displaced persons, and actively support one another.

After the temporarily blocked Territorial Community Register was unlocked following the occupation, the administration began updating the register and working even more closely with the displaced population.

“Each region has its own chat groups — Skadovsk residents in Lviv, Skadovsk residents in Ternopil, and so on. There are also communities of people who are abroad. Thanks to a well-organized community, I can call anywhere in the world, find a Skadovsk resident, and say: go to the City Council, arrange a meeting with the mayor so we can establish a partnership. If we need to transport a vehicle for the Armed Forces, we also have people everywhere who can assist,” shares Oleksii Stepovyi.

The community’s focus is on international partnerships. One example is the Lithuanian city of Šilutė, a twin city of Skadovsk. The Ukrainian and Lithuanian communities run a joint social protection program, with Šilutė partially financing assistance for wounded servicemembers in the amount of €10,000. Additionally, children from the Skadovsk Community travel to Lithuania for recreational programs.

Moreover, the Skadovsk Community seeks to adopt best practices from international partners and explores any opportunities for joint initiatives that can accelerate recovery.

“I was in Luxembourg and saw their cultural center. I said: ‘What a beautiful cultural center! We could use one like that in Skadovsk. Do you still have the project documentation? Maybe we could submit it for co-financing from the European Investment Bank?’” recalls Oleksii Stepovyi.

As for the community’s recovery plan, Skadovsk has one in place. The first priority is implementing established key steps within the first six months after de-occupation to stabilize the security situation. Next comes the development of strategic and other planning documents for the community’s further growth.

“From the ‘Unbroken Workshop’ project and from our interactions with residents and other communities, we see that for people to return, there must be a stable security situation, access to healthcare and education, and proper road infrastructure — in other words, a basic package of necessities to ensure popilation feel comfortable in the community. And, of course, housing availability and assistance with restoration are crucial,” says Oleksii Stepovyi.

The Experience of a Host Community for Displaced Individuals

The Shyrokivska Rural Community (Zaporizhzhia Region) has accommodated 9,563 internally displaced individuals from 11 regions of Ukraine since the full-scale invasion. This number exceeds half of the community’s pre-war population as of February 24, 2022. The majority of displaced individuals arrived from neighboring occupied communities within the Zaporizhzhia Region. Over the past three years, the Shyrokivska Community has undertaken significant efforts to help displaced individuals settle, adapt, and find employment. Deputy Head of the Shyrokivska Community, Olha Stavytska, provided detailed insights into these efforts.

According to Olha Stavytska, their community was among the first to adopt a support program for internally displaced individuals. Regular studies are conducted within the community to assess the challenges and needs of displaced individuals. Based on survey results, mental health support is identified as the top priority. To address this, the Shyrokivska Community operates three psychosocial support centers and a Resilience Center, offering activities for both displaced individuals and local residents.

The second most urgent need is housing provision. In the first months after the full-scale invasion, displaced individuals were accommodated wherever possible due to the lack of properly equipped housing. Over time, part of a local medical facility was renovated and converted into a hostel for displaced individuals, where six families currently reside. Additionally, eight two-room apartments and one three-room apartment have been prepared for housing.

A noteworthy example of cooperation is the partnership between the Shyrokivska Community as a host community and the Yakymivska Community as a relocated one. At present, 60 families from the occupied Yakymivska Community reside in Shyrokivska Community. In response, the Heads of both Communities signed the Memorandum, under which a subvention was transferred from the Yakymivska Community’s budget to Shyrokivska to provide housing for displaced individuals. These funds were used to renovate a building with four apartments, now home to families from the Yakymivska Community.

Overall, the main obstacle to housing provision for displaced individuals remains limited financial resources. Therefore, host and relocated communities must continue to join efforts and seek external support together.

A significant issue remains the registration of internally displaced individuals (IDIs). The previously mentioned figure of 9,563 refers to the officially registered individuals in the Shyrokivska Community. However, the exact number is unknown to the local administration.

“We estimate the actual number of displaced individuals in the community to be around 7,000. We gauge this based on the volume of humanitarian aid provided, but we lack precise data. The State Program ‘Social Community’ exists, but it does not provide a breakdown of the number of individuals, their ages, how many are children, or their communities of origin. Village elders maintain their own records, tracking who arrives and departs. However, state programs offer no assistance in this regard,” explains Olha Stavytska.

Currently, 150 internally displaced students are enrolled in schools within the Shyrokivska Community, where the total student population is 1,200. According to Olha Stavytska, these students are fully integrated into educational and extracurricular activities alongside local students. At the same time, the community is understanding toward those who continue remote learning in their home communities, recognizing that it may be the best option for them.

Many internally displaced individuals have secured employment in the Shyrokivska Community, including teachers, doctors, and administrative staff.

“IDIs work in the children’s services office, as well as in the fields of culture, education, and healthcare. They are a tremendous resource for our community. If any of them choose to remain here even after de-occupation, we will be delighted,” emphasizes Olha Stavytska.

The Head of the Shyrokivska Community also underscores the importance of social integration for displaced individuals within the host community while preserving the identity of their temporarily occupied communities. To support this, the Shyrokivska Community actively involves displaced individuals in the University of the Third Age, the Youth Council, the Successful Women’s Club, and various support and leisure activities. However, even after more than three years of living together, displaced individuals in the host community tend to remain somewhat separate.

“I understand, they want to preserve their identity and stay connected with their own. But at the same time, social integration is also important. We must foster cooperation between communities and implement projects that help individuals feel at home,” stresses Olha Stavytska.

Experiences and Recommendations from Liberated Communities

The Velykooleksandrivska Community (Kherson Region) was under occupation from March to November 2022. By December, nearly the entire settlement council had returned and resumed operations. According to Natalia Korniienko, Head of the Velykooleksandrivska Community, one of the key factors enabling liberated communities — such as Velykooleksandrivska, Vysokopilska, and Kochubeivska in the Kherson Region — to recover quickly is the concentration of residents in a single location during displacement. In the case of the Velykooleksandrivska Community, that location was the city of Kryvyi Rih, where community members gathered at a hub to receive assistance.

“We were all there, working every day. That made our return home seamless,” emphasizes Nataliia Kornienko. “Our family doctors and secondary care doctors, inpatient department, and outpatient clinic resumed work immediately. Today, all state institutions are operational.”

Before the full-scale invasion, the Velykooleksandrivska Community, comprising 30 settlements within eight Starosta Districts, had a population of 16,500. During the occupation, no more than 3,000 people remained in the community. Now, in the third year of the war, about 70% of residents have returned—11,500 in total. Additionally, 70% of children residing in the community as of February 2022 have returned. The de-occupied community has also become a refuge for 1,500 displaced individuals, mainly from neighboring Kherson Region communities along the Dnipro River.

Upon returning, the administration prioritized restoring lost documents and repairing damaged property.

“There was no electricity, gas, or internet. To help residents travel outside the community for migration services or notary and state institution assistance, we organized a humanitarian transport service to Kryvyi Rih in December 2022, funded by the local budget. Once our Administrative Services Center (ASC) was operational, these services were provided locally,” recalls Nataliia Kornienko.

A major challenge was equipping the village council with office equipment, as all equipment had been destroyed, damaged, or lost. The DOBRE project helped procure necessary equipment, supplemented by purchases using local budget funds. Additionally, through DOBRE, the community acquired the first excavator, essential for repairing the water supply network and unloading humanitarian aid, such as firewood and heating pallets.

Nataliia Kornienko acknowledges the usefulness of Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1119 “On Amendmends to the Engagement of Able-Bodied Individuals in Socially Beneficial Work during the Martial Law” for restoration of the Community.

“Currently, the ‘Recovery Army’ consists of 50 individuals. We encourage people to participate in socially beneficial work, which is funded by the State Budget. This helps us save local budget resources,” says Nataliia Kornienko.

The Velykooleksandrivska Community has restored the Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI), and State Registrars of Property Rights of Legal Entities and Individuals are operational. A challenge in restoring damaged property is that assets acquired before 2013 are not registered in the State Property Rights Register. Consequently, only those who purchased property after 2013 can participate in the state ‘e-Restoration’ program. To support homeowners with damaged property, the Velykooleksandrivska Community launched its own program, allocating funds to compensate population. Additionally, specialists in Kryvyi Rih assist residents with technical inspections.

“80,000 hectares of agricultural land were either mined or contaminated with explosive objects. As a result, agriculture ceased operations, leaving people without income. Yet, housing restoration remained necessary. We did what we could to address this issue,” shares Nataliia Kornienko.

When asked what she would have done differently, looking back, Nataliia Kornienko mentioned the need for a more organized humanitarian aid distribution system. Specifically, she emphasized the importance of registering each person and categorizing them to ensure fair allocation.

The Head of the Velykooleksandrivska Community called on the heads of currently occupied communities to systematically prepare for their return to their territories and to pay attention to the regulatory framework developed by previously liberated communities. Specifically, on the official website of the Velykooleksandrivska Community, one can find a list of regulatory and executive documents that will be helpful after de-occupation.

Oleh Pylypenko, the Head of the Shevchenkove Community of Mykolaiv Region, whose community had eight out of 21 villages occupied from March to November 2022, shared his experience of rebuilding his community and offered recommendations for communities that will return to their territories in the future. First of all, Oleh Pylypenko recalled that after the frontline moved away from the community, villages suffered destruction of infrastructure: bridges were torn down, electricity and gas supply networks were damaged, fields and roads were mined, and in some settlements, up to 95% of residential buildings were destroyed, along with schools, kindergartens, and cultural houses.

“No one knows what condition you will find your communities in. Therefore, planning for recovery in a critical situation, with a lack of resources, should be part of your plans. No one knows how many people will immediately return and be able to participate in reconstruction. What needs to be worked on every day is maintaining contact with those individuals who have left,” emphasizes Oleh Pylypenko.

In particular, the Head of the Shevchenkove Community calls on communities to do everything possible to bring back specialists in healthcare and education, and, if possible, professionals with experience in international projects who can write grant programs, negotiate, and find additional financial resources. If such specialists are unavailable, they need to be trained in advance, without waiting for the liberation of settlements.

“Subsidies will help you cover the costs of paying salaries, utilities, and emergency repairs. You won’t be able to do anything large-scale with this money. For example, we (Shevchenkove Community — editor’s note) have been attracting about two more budgets per year for recovery funded by international humanitarian assistance. The de-occupation of your communities may happen swiftly. It’s important to start accumulating experience today,” stresses Oleh Pylypenko, recalling how parts of Kherson Region were liberated in just a few days, the front shifted, and the liberated communities suddenly found themselves alone with a range of issues caused by the war.

Currently, in the Shevchenkove Community, most of the damaged housing stock has been restored, with only the most severely destroyed houses remaining. The community residents have received funds for the restoration of their homes.

“The main thing is the return of people. For this to happen, real conditions need to be created — assistance with housing reconstruction, meeting basic needs. Because, most likely, houses will be destroyed, burned, or emptied, people will have nothing, and everything will have to be started from scratch. You need to develop connections abroad, establish partnerships with international organizations so that, at the right moment, this can work like a large locomotive for the reconstruction of communities,” says Oleh Pylypenko.

Focus on Preserving Identity

The Open Discussion, the key points of which we present in this article, was a continuation of a series of meetings organized by the LDN and the NGO STEP with the heads of relocated communities, as well as a closed discussion in which participants sincerely shared the urgent problems faced by communities in relocation.

“Speakers at this and previous discussions emphasized that it is indeed crucial to preserve the core group of people who will return to the liberated territory and work on the recovery of each community. In this situation, people are essentially everything. Therefore, we need to focus on developing an algorithm that allows us to track where community residents are and communicate with them in order to maintain connection. Moreover, the discussions highlighted the need to find new meanings for the existence and functioning of relocated communities, because their status is not yet secured and remains fragile. They are, so to speak, in a guest position in the cities where they are staying and therefore require special attention from the state and all of us,” emphasizes Anton Stasik, the Lawyer at NGO STEP.

Vitaliy Okhrimenko, the Director of Organizational Development at LDN, supports the idea expressed at previous meetings about the creation of livable spaces for displaced communities.

The topic of preserving the identity of relocated communities was discussed in an open online discussion as part of the initiative, which took place on January 28, 2024, with the participation of community representatives, NGOs, civil and professional communities, local government bodies, executive authorities of various levels, researchers, and the media. The key points of this discussion can be found in the following article.

Materials on the topic:

• LDN and STEP: Searching for Opportunities to Develop the Potential of Relocated Communities in Zaporizhzhia 
• Finding One’s Place Under the Sun: Life Challenges of Relocated Communities —  Closed Discussion Key Points 

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