Ukraine War Day #77: Never Too Early To Think About Rebuilding

Dear Readers:

Even as the war still rages on many fronts, with towns and cities falling to rubble, one after the other — there are some pockets of relative peace where constructive work is going on. Today I have a potpourri of a few such stories.

Nikolaev: No H2O

But, since we are talking critical infrastructure, I’ll start with a “bad news” piece, this is regarding the city of Nikolaev. Which has no water. The reporter is Alyona Zadorozhnaya. Nikolaev is still under Ukrainian administration, and it is the Ukrainian army which is to blame for this situation. According to Ukrainian pundit Larisa Shesler: “It was the Ukrainian side which damaged the water pipe when they launched their counter-offensive against Kherson.” Approximately 400,000 people live in this city; in other words, it’s huge, by Ukrainian standards.

Nikolaev has been without water since April 12. Nikolaev Governor Vitaly Kim, a Ukrainian Nationalist fanatic who sees everything through an ideological lens, does not seem to think that it’s his job to restore the water. “Repairs cannot take place while battles are continuing,” he opines.

Shesler again: “This [water pipe] is the single source of drinking water. Leaving people without water is tantamount to a humanitarian catastrophe.”

I will try to follow this story and see if there is some improvement. For the time being, file this under This is what happens when you appoint ideologues instead of technocrats, to administer your regions.

Mariupol Ground Zero

The big gorilla in the room: Mariupol. Looking at scenes of the utter devastation, one wonders, where to even start? It would be like walking back into your house after a tornado struck it, and all your stuff was just lying in pieces scattered everywhere, you wouldn’t even know where to begin picking up. Fortunately, there are stalwart people out there who do this for a living.

Marat Khusnullin: “There’s your problem right there: Everything got blowed up.”

I have this piece from May 8, the reporter is Dmitry Zubarev. There is a fellow with the interesting name Marat Shakirzyanovich Khusnullin, who works for the Russian Government in various capacities, with a rank of Deputy Prime-Minister. As one might tell from his name, Marat is an ethnic Tatar. He hails from the Tatar Autonomous Region under the Russian Federation, and curates entire regions, including Crimea and Sebastopol. With a Candidate degree in Economics, his specialty is construction, and he helped build a lot of cool stuff in many cities, including Moscow. Marat has a wife, a son, and two daughters. The Russian Government recently promoted him, then dispatched him to Mariupol and Volnovakha to see for himself, in person, and start to draw up a recovery plan. Donetsk leader Denis Pushilin was very happy to see Marat arrive in town. There is a lot to do, in a very short amount of time. Ominously though, Pushilin warns people that the ensuing construction frenzy might not be up to the highest international standards: “These [results] may not be up to standard, since we are facing a construction of unprecedented scale, with very short timelines.”

That’s understandable but still, as a non expert, I can only peep hoarsely: “Just please don’t skimp on safety.” After all, safety should not be an afterthought, it should be baked into the very foundations of every project. I learned that in Safety Class. If you build something shoddily and it collapses later and buries people under the rubble, then that won’t be a very good look, will it? Just imagine the gloatings of the Ukrainian Nationalists if that were to happen.

Magomed Nurbagandov: “Get to work, Brothers!”

Anyhow, as part of this aggressive timeline, Pushilin promises that the Port of Mariupol should be unblocked by the end of May. That’s just a couple of weeks away!

Pushilin: “Deputy Prime-Minister Khusnullin and I visited the AzovMash [Machine Plant], and also the Mariupol Trading Port. The place is already hopping with workers: We have hired over 400 associates. In May, just as planned, the first production from the [Donetsk] Republic will be offloaded via the port. But [in order to meet this timeline] there is a huge amount of work to do. […] Given how much construction materials will be needed for the restoration of the Donbass, Marat Shakirzyanovich suggested that we use the maritime port as a transport hub, and also as a loading/unloading hub…”

This is what Marat himself had to say, after completing his trip of inspection: “I visited the liberated territories of DPR and LPR. I visited Mariupol, Volnovakh, Luhansk and other cities… […] There is a lot of work to do.”

Indeed there is. So better get to it. Remember the words of Dagestani/Russian hero/martyr Magomed Nurbagandov: “Работайте, братья!” Get to work! But don’t forget to bake in the safety.

Kharkov Gets Electrons – yay!

Last but not least, I have this piece from just yesterday, the reporter is Anton Nikitin. This is a “feel good” piece, because some people in Kharkov Oblast, who haven’t seen an electron since the beginning of April, finally started to receive those magical particles again. From Belgorod, Russia. On May 8 some high-voltage lines got hooked up to the Belgorod grid. Around 15:00 local time (same as Moscow time), suddenly TADA! the lights came on in Kupyansk, Dvurechansk and Velikoburluksk. And 120,000 residents probably went “Ura!” all at the same time.

Norman Rockwell’s iconic painting of a Lineman, was based on Soviet Socialist Realist art.

See, it turns out that, before 2002, there were actually overhead power lines connecting the energy systems of Belgorod and Kharkov. They comprised a backup system whereby each side could provide the other, in case of a partial blackout. In 2002 these lines were taken down. But then, from April 29 through May 8 of this past week, were put back in, once again joining the two energy systems.

Overhead lines were put up for a total distance of 5.2 kilometers. The project organizers hired 57 workers to get the job done. The result was the steady supply (via 16 high-voltage transformer substations) of 110 kV to households in the city of Kupyansk and 200 other populated towns of the Kharkov Oblast.

Kupyansk Mayor Gennady Matsegora: “I am overcome with emotions. This is a real assistance to us, with these high-voltage lines, through which we are receiving 45 megawatts from the Russian Federation. So that now the people of Kupyansk will be receiving uninterrupted light. As a result we have been able to resume work on the water canal, the hospital can resume work, the grain factory, the maternity hospital and the entire infrastructure [of the city]. We will now be able to economize on benzine and diesel, which we were using to run our generators. But the best thing of all is that people will now be able to focus on their main tasks: raising their children and tending to their gardens. Even in these complicated times, we want people to feel comfortable.”