There are villages in the Dergachyv community where people no longer live

From the first day of the full-scale invasion, the Dergachy community found itself in the zone of fierce hostilities. As a result, Dergachyvshchyna is one of the most mined communities of the Kharkiv region, several settlements have been destroyed by almost 90%, and in some villages and towns not a single person lives anymore.

The border community of Dergachevsk is one of those that has experienced all the horrors of war since the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion. About 45% of the territory of the community was occupied. The Russians completely occupied Kozacholopansky, Prokhodivskyi, Tokarivskyi starostat districts, as well as Tsupivka and Shapovalivka villages of the Prudyansky starostat. The Russians established their “administration” there.

At the same time, a large number of settlements, up to the city of Dergachi, were considered a “gray zone”, that is, it was here that the fiercest battles continued in the community. At the end of April 2022, the Russians were knocked out of Ruska Lozova, after that the liberation of Dergachyvshchyna began.

There are 38 settlements in the Dergachyv community, and each of them has suffered in one way or another as a result of hostilities. According to Vyacheslav Zadorenko, the head of the Dergachyv city military administration, the village of Prudyanka, which was directly on the front line, was destroyed by approximately 90%, and the village of Tsupivka is in almost the same condition.

In some settlements, such as the village of Pytomnyk and the village of Nove, after active clashes and constant shelling, not a single person lives at the moment. There are similar settlements in the Tokariv Starostyn district, in particular Dementiiivka. A maximum of two people live in the village of Kochubiivka of the same district. The situation is similar in the village of Graniv of the Kozacholopan Starostat – three people remained there.

Before the full-scale invasion, there were about 45,000 residents in the Dergachiv community. With the beginning of hostilities, many people left or found themselves in the occupation. The smallest number of residents in Dergachyv region was recorded in March 2022 and amounted to about 6,000 people. Most of them lived in the city of Dergachy and those settlements where the city council could deliver humanitarian aid, i.e. in the “gray zone” – Bezruky, Slatine, Prudyanka, etc.

After the final liberation of the community on September 11, 2022, people began to gradually return, and currently the territorial community has about 20,000 inhabitants, of which 80%, i.e. 16,000 people, live in Dergachy. Specifically, 18,000 people lived in the city until February 24.

Currently, 90% of the pre-war population lives in the city. Some have returned, residents from destroyed settlements located further north have also moved to Dergachy. Thanks to this, life in the city has been restored – says the head of the Dergachiv city military administration, Vyacheslav Zadorenko.