The city of Sviatogirsk, in eastern Ukraine, plans to develop war tourism in memory of the fighting that devastated it and the three months it was under Russian occupation until liberation in September.
Armored vehicles – charred and rusty – continue to block the roads, no one has repaired the windows and there is no running water.
A precarious life for the 900 or so residents who still live there, a fifth of the pre-war total, as tourism exploded, thanks to the pine forests on the banks of the Seversky Donets River and the Orthodox Dormition Monastery.
Today Mayor Volodymyr Ribalkin says he sees a new future for the city centered on war tourism. The mayor was appointed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after his predecessor collaborated with the Russian occupiers between June and September 2022.
Ribalkin runs through the main street, past shops and cafes with destroyed facades.
Oleksandre, 70, a retired businessman, sweeps up broken glass in his flower shop on the main street. In the nearby supermarket, fragments of a rocket went through the ceiling, windows and walls. “This area was constantly bombed,” says Ribalkin, recommending walking on the tarmac to avoid explosives that are still hidden.
Recently, a woman was killed by an anti-personnel mine on the banks of the river, as a lack of resources prevented a full clearance.
The mayor guarantees that the city will be “full of tourists” in five years. “It will be more of a historical and military tour, based on the events that happened here, and it will be after the victory” of the Ukrainians, he says.
Meanwhile, Sviatogirsk has had no running water for more than a year after pipelines and treatment plants were destroyed. A sea container was divided into cubicles for showers, toilets and washing machines. A wood stove heats the water. Residents have access to the shower every two weeks after prior registration.
“It’s a pleasure for people to come here,” says one co-worker, Oksana, a former educator who had her former workplace and home destroyed. “Now I live with my neighbor”.
Nearby, in a cafeteria belonging to the Ukrainian association World Central Kitchen, Elvira, 15 years old, serves a dish consisting of tuna, rice, beetroot and vegetable salad. “In Ukraine, education is distance learning. So after work I go home to do my homework,” explains the young woman who dreams of becoming a hairdresser with a smile.
Children from the region attend art classes at a summer camp organized by the Ukrainian NGO Base UA.
The city’s history also illustrates the painful division within Ukraine.
When troops from Moscow took control, Mayor Volodymyr Bandura cooperated with the enemy before leaving with the Russians, accompanied by about 200 residents. “A criminal case has been opened,” says the current mayor about his predecessor.
Source: DN
