Czech criminologist Petr Pojman shares plans for the next project of Maidan Monitoring Information Center – it should be systematization and mapping of the latent cultural and ecological consequences of the war in Kharkiv and Kharkiv region (perhaps also in Donetsk and Luhansk regions). Such information is necessary for the restoration of the liberated territories of Ukraine, and two more important components for this are funds and expertise of people or organizations that have experience in solving similar problems.
Documented on September 25, 2022. The central part of the city, Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Videographers – Nataliya Zubar and Yevhen Tytarenko.
Next year, we are planning to work on a systematic project which will be mapping these latent damages of war. Because not everything is visible, you know. Here you see it, it’s destroyed, house is… For example, we were in school. School is destroyed, but what does it mean? Where these students will go if there is no building? They need some other school. What does it mean for local community? Or museum. There were some archives, some of them were stolen, some of them were destroyed.
Or, and it’s even more difficult, ecological [consequences]. On the fields and on the meadows there are mines, UXOs [unexploded ordnances] and other remnants of war, and also chemistry, leakage of chemistry from the factories. It’s not visible, but it has a big ecological impact.
All of these are latent consequences of the war, and we would like to focus on cultural and ecological consequences, latent consequences in Kharkiv region and around – so, maybe, Donetsk [region], Luhansk region. And we would like to share this experience and information with the people and with the founds, with the decision makers, because there will be need to work on this.
There will be of course financial support needed – so, money allocation, – but also advices. We are trying to find the experts who know how to solve some special ecological questions, which may be solved for a long time, because these results of the war will be in the soil for a long time. And all of this has to be researched and has to be solved. So, not only money are helping, but also good experience from different places with similar experience.
So, expertise, finance, and this mapping which we are going to do next year.
This video also contains excerpts of two other videos with the participation of Petr Pojman from other places of documenting the consequences of the war in the Kharkiv region. You can see the full versions below.
Czech criminologist Petr Pojman is within the ruined school building in the town of Vilkhivka. All the windows of the school are broken, parts of the roof and of the walls are destroyed. Possibly, the building could not be repaired. Now children are learning online, but after the war ending there is necessary to build a new school.
Documented by Petr Pojman on September 28, 2022. Vilkhivka, Kharkiv region, Ukraine.
Videographer – Yevhen Tytarenko.
Today we have 25th of September. We are in the town of Vilhivka, in a building, and it’s hard to recognize what was it. Maybe for a better understanding we can move to the corridors… to these corridors. Well, before the war the children were running there and back. Maybe there were some pictures. Because this building was a school before the February 24th 2022.
For now, this building is completely destroyed. As you see, we are in the middle, and there is no single window, there is no one which is in good shape. Some static is probably destroyed and, according to locals, it will be almost impossible to rebuild this house. So, it looks now it will be removed, a new school will be built, or some other school will be used.
So far, children are in online school. In Kharkiv region, it is really dangerous to have so many children on one place, in case of some rocket attack or other atrocity. And here you can see still the remnants of war on the floor, and this is the gym of a basic school. And some materials of other classes. As you see, the majority of the other classes are completely destroyed. Part of the roof is destroyed. So, this gym is more or less the only place which… where you can understand that we are actually in school. And it will be difficult to find resources and to build a new school again. And it’s something we would like to focus on in our project next year. Even here, the roof is destroyed, and it’s only one of the impacts. There were many others. So, this is just like one of the examples.
So, this is something we would like to focus on next year in our project. School as a cultural project which influenced not only building itself. It’s not only destruction of the building, but it has great influence to the local population, because where these people, or where these students, where these young students will study when the war will be over? This is the question. So there is a great need of help and support, and as soon as possible. The war we’ll be over, the new school for children from this school should be opened.
Czech criminologist Petr Pojman is reporting from the recently liberated territories of Kharkiv region, Ukraine. The war does not mean only victims and visible ruination. There are also latent consequences: unexploded ordnance, mines, chemical leakages and so on. This impact of the war is very difficult and long-term.
Documented on September 23, 2022. Kharkiv region, Ukraine.
Presenter – Petr Pojman. Videographer – Yevhen Tytarenko.
What you see here – it’s, uh… electricity cables fall down on the field, on the meadow, and it’s our second topic we are planning to focus on next year during the project, these ecological… like, more latent consequences of war.
Apart of these problems with the electricity, there are also on the fields and on the meadows – there are mines, UXOs [unexploded ordnances] and other remnants of war, and also chemistry, leakage of chemistry from the factories. It’s not visible but it has a big ecological impact.
We would like to focus on several important places here in Kharkiv oblast [region], we would like to describe the problem, and we would like to share this experience with the structures which can have some decisions – to allocate the sources and to help with the solution of the problem.
These are the latent consequences of war, of Russian-Ukrainian war, and there is need to deal with very long term perspective. Because this is a very difficult part.
This project has been funded by Crown Agents International Development.
