Two and a half years after the de-occupation, Vysokopillia continues its recovery. The community’s population has increased almost fivefold, housing is being actively developed, and schools, kindergartens and healthcare facilities are being restored.
MOST visits the Vysokopil Territorial Community every year. This one was no exception.
In 2022 Vysokopillia literally became a battlefield and, accordingly, suffered significant destruction — about 90% of buildings were destroyed.
Now, according to the head of the Vysokopil settlement military administration, Kostyantyn Starodumov, the emergency housing stock has been fully restored.
People are returning to the settlement — if after the de-occupation fewer than 1,200 residents lived here, now there are 6,243. Therefore, restoring housing and building new homes became an urgent issue for Vysokopillia. Thanks to a large number of grant programs, it was possible to restore not only the housing stock but also household infrastructure important for rural areas — barns, livestock facilities, and so on.
Construction continues also thanks to the “Shoulder-to-Shoulder” project, which provides support to de-occupied communities of Kherson region by rear regions. With funds from a subsidy from the Pidvolochysk community they plan to restore administrative buildings. Kostyantyn Starodumov notes that finding money for these needs was the most difficult, since the restoration of housing stock was mainly envisaged. However, during the period of active hostilities 99.9% of administrative buildings, CNAPs, hospitals and FAPs were destroyed.
They also plan to allocate subsidy funds to build a sports ground in Hryhorivske — it is a remote village where out of 140 residents 50 are children. The school in Mala Shestirnya is also being restored — shelters are being completed there. The Vysokopil central school, the large-scale reconstruction of which began in April 2024, is also preparing to open.
“Almost everything was ready, however a new requirement appeared regarding radon measurements in concrete — a year ago this was not the case. Therefore, these measurements are currently underway; we are awaiting the final confirmations from the sanitary service. And the teachers are already on the starting blocks”, — notes Kostyantyn Starodumov.
Construction of a general family practice outpatient clinic is ongoing, being built on the site of the destroyed district administration. According to the head of the military administration, priority will be given to family medicine; once the hospital is completed and can be licensed and receive contracts — they will attract narrow-profile specialists.
Answering a question about how the community plans to attract specialists to work, Starodumov notes that housing provision and competitive salaries should be the basis for this.
“We are actively looking for doctors and promise both decent salaries and housing. Together with “Caritas” we renovated two apartments that remained on the hospital’s balance sheet. We furnished them and installed appliances. They are ready for occupancy. Also, a project to build modular housing in cooperation with UNHCR was actively implemented. We strongly defended this project, choosing a location not, as is usually the case for modular towns, on the edge of the settlement, but in the center, where there are shops and infrastructure nearby. People who come to us should be able to adapt quickly”, — he says.
They also plan to increase the number of jobs, which are still few in the community, through municipal enterprises. According to Kostyantyn Starodumov, the plan is to bring the municipal enterprise to self-sufficiency so that it is not subsidized from the local budget and can provide paid services such as installing meters, waste removal, landfill permitting, and so on.
“We already have a municipal enterprise that manufactures cinder blocks and will soon also produce paving slabs. There are also plans for a large household waste management project. We have only one certified landfill in Arkhanhelske. In Vysokopillia we also plan to create a site for sorting and recycling. In the future we will have calculations and planning on how to do it properly. But many cities already make money from this, and we will be able to as well”, — he is convinced.
An important problem that accompanied the community throughout the years of de-occupation was the demolition of destroyed buildings. In Vysokopillia, as in other settlements of the liberated right bank, the Program for clearing the rubble of buildings destroyed during hostilities was implemented. More than 70 tons of construction debris were removed. An important nuance, which Starodumov mentions, is that a building is not demolished just like that. It requires a project, a decision by the local commission to liquidate the address, entry into the Unified State Register of Construction, technical reports and many other documents. After demolition, construction debris must be sorted according to regulations — for this there are 4 sites where brick, concrete, and materials that may contain concrete or asbestos are stored separately. This is an expensive and lengthy process, which is why restoration and construction take place not as quickly as one would like.
One of these destroyed, dismantled and now completed structures is the Arkhanhelske Lyceum. They are now finishing the construction of the shelter there and starting landscaping and further equipping work. The community plans to open the lyceum on September 1.
This year the Vysokopil community has high hopes for the sowing season. Last year was abnormal due to spring frosts, drought, lack of rain and, as a result, no harvest. In 2026 — predicts Kostyantyn Starodumov — the season should be 100% better.
Of course, the problem of demining remains.
“We can say that sappers have cleared 98% of the land intended for sowing. But of course you cannot say that they are completely demined. In May of last year we found an aviation shell from World War II. And the hostilities that have taken place on our territory since the beginning of the full-scale invasion present a great danger. Our farmers are experienced and interact with the units. They still find shells and fragments, and drones fall — either shot down or those jammed by EW systems. Therefore, of course when something is found – they call specialists and neutralize it”, — he notes.
According to Starodumov, all farmers in the community received compensation from the state for destroyed crops at a rate of 4,800 UAH per hectare. Many farms switched to the status of critical infrastructure and officially pay increased wages to their workers.
Not without obstacles, but the Vysokopil community is recovering. According to the head of the settlement military administration, planned budget tasks are being overfulfilled with a good margin, which makes it possible to co-finance construction and pay additional bonuses to public sector employees. Plans include completing the kindergarten, the modular town and roads, which still remain the most painful issue for the community.
