War is not only death. It’s also life. Those who survived can confirm that one year of war feels like it’s worth dozens of peaceful years. The war in Ukraine has tested our strength by threatening to deprive us of our lives, families, and valuables. But we continue to fight for what’s dear to us, showing through this struggle who we are.
The hostilities are constantly moving, but our houses remain in the same place they’ve always been. When war approaches you, it tests the strength of your love for your home. Every Ukrainian sooner or late had to join the fight for his home or give it up. By the beginning of December 2022, 13.7 million Ukrainians had left their homes. 7.8 million Ukrainians left for Europe. Another 5.9 million Ukrainians became internally displaced within Ukraine.
Far fewer Ukrainians risked their lives by deciding to stay at home until the very end. Roughly 1.2 million survived the fighting in their own homes and ended up in territories occupied by the Russian army. Some of these people survived the war in their homes twice — residents of some territories of the Kherson and Kharkov regions were occupied by the Russians for six months, and later released by the Ukrainian army. However, for the majority of Ukrainians, the worst can still happen. Almost 26 million Ukrainians are in their homes and are at risk of Russian shelling.
DAMAGE TO HOMES
The windows of houses are the most vulnerable. The blast wave breaks glass. Pieces of flying glass are often more dangerous than metal shrapnel. In order not to be killed by their own windows, residents take a few precautions. The easiest solution is to seal the glass with tape. A thin film of adhesive tape can stop the glass from shattering into pieces. Although it protects from the blast wave, shrapnel and stones will still break the glass. Shields made of boards and fiberboard offer more protection against this. But if a strong explosion is nearby, then the wooden shields also fail and the windows break. Finally, some Ukrainians place icons of Jesus Christ in their windows, and put all their hope on the will of God.
Roofs are another vulnerable point of houses. Most roofs in Ukraine are made of tile or corrugated asbestos cement sheets, which breaks easily under the influence of a blast wave or fragments. A leaky roof isn’t a quick death for the owner of the house, but it’s a slow death for the building. There’s no way to protect the roof from munitions. All homeowners can do is repair the damage. Small holes are sealed with expanding foam. It’s the cheapest and fastest way to repair.
To repair large holes, we use pieces of old tile or plastic. The plastic is especially helpful. With this material, a person can close up holes from the inside of the roof by standing in the attic. This avoids the risk of climbing onto the roof from the outside. Pieces of plastic are
