The military governor of Kharkiv, Oleg Sinegybov, do not have time. His days pass between dealing with the waralong with the frantic work of meeting the multiple needs of the civilian population in the vast region of eastern Ukraine bordering Russia and close to Donbas, which, before Russia launched its invasion, was one of the largest industrial centers in Ukraine. On the occasion of the first anniversary of the war, Sinegybov has agreed to speak briefly with EL PERIÓDICO.
Since February 24, 2022, Kharkov has been under constant attack. What is the cost of the damage they have suffered in this year of war?
The final amount of damage has not yet been calculated, but it is in the hundreds of billions of dollars, because more than 18,000 targets have been damaged or destroyed, of which more than 10,000 are residential structures, which also includes apartments and private houses. . There are also 300 hospitals and around 800 educational centers affected, and our agricultural machinery has been destroyed, which greatly affects our businessmen. There is damage to hundreds of kilometers of roads and thousands of kilometers of power lines. This is our critical infrastructure, the one that generates electricity and provides heat. And we have not yet liberated the entire territory of the region (from the presence of Russian troops).
How many internally displaced are there?
Right now, there are 460,000 people in the Kharkiv region and the city of Kharkiv who have the status of internally displaced persons, some of them live in this territory, although they left their homes because it is currently dangerous to be there. Others live outside the region.
He said that there are cities and villages that are still under Russian occupation. How many?
In the region, there are about 29 settlements under temporary enemy occupation, but there are also about three settlements that are in the so-called gray zone, where the situation is extremely difficult, it is practically impossible to live there. Almost all have left, and those who remain have no electricity, water, gas supply, no medical care facilities. We also do not have access to these territories and there have been no humanitarian corridors to allow these people to be removed from these areas, or to give them humanitarian attention.
What is the situation of the towns and cities retaken, like Izium, last September? Is stable? Are they afraid that Russian troops will try to recapture them?
Right now, the situation there is stable, the electricity supply, water supply and heating supply have been fully restored to the extent possible, because some houses have been destroyed. Also 6 of the 23 boiler rooms have been fixed, the rest are destroyed. As for other populated areas that have been liberated, the situation there is similar. And as for those areas where there is no electricity supply, we have 13,000 situations of this type, but this depends on demining and reconstruction works.
Are they receiving enough food aid? How many people in this region need assistance?
I want to thank all of our international partners, including those who have sent the thousands of tons of humanitarian aid that we have received and continue to receive. We have created coordination headquarters to be able to distribute and send aid more effectively to where it is needed most. In fact, last year we delivered more than 65,000 tons of humanitarian aid, including food, medicine and hygiene products, in our different territories. Our main task now is to restart medical care in the vacated territories, for example in the city of Izium, where the hospital was completely destroyed. There is a plan to rebuild this facility, and some international funds are ready. Work is underway in this direction.
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What is expected for the coming months?
May we win this war. We currently have an escalation in the direction of Kupiansk, in the north (of the Kharkiv region), that is, the enemy has increased the number of shelling of our settlements in that area. However, we believe in our armed forces and we are all working for our common victory. As our president pointed out, the main event we look forward to in 2023 is our victory.