Spatial and Human Challenges of Recovery the De-Occupied Territories of Kherson Region
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/UGZ2025.02.067Keywords:
Russian-Ukrainian war, territorial communities (hromadas), de-occupation, decentralisation post-war recoveryAbstract
The article suggests a new perspective on socio-spatial transformations within the territories affected by large-scale military aggression, drawing on the experience of 17 right-bank territorial communities (hromadas) of the Kherson region liberated in autumn 2022 after almost 9 months of occupation. The period of occupation, the intensification of military aggression, the terrible Kakhovka Reservoir disaster and active hostilities within the region have had multidimensional consequences in the human and spatial aspects: massive population displacements and declines, changes in the age structure of the population, depopulation of settlements, numerous damages and destruction of housing, social, communal and transport infrastructure, industrial enterprises, and environmental problems. Using the case study methodology and thematic analysis, the study highlights new challenges in the process of recovering de-occupied hromadas: threats of changing the categories and functions of settlements, simplification of the socio-spatial structure amidst dramatic changes in the settlement’s population, challenges in restoring economic activity and financial decentralisation. Through analysis of demographic processes and spatial consequences of military aggression within 225 settlements of de-occupied hromadas of the right bank of the Kherson region, the study conceptualises the issue of estimating the loss of human potential and the socio-spatial structure of its recovery, necessary for the post-war reconstruction and recovery measures at the regional and local levels.
References
1. Dzhalalov, M.N., Butnik, S.V., & Hovorukha, I.V. (2023). Analysis of direct losses and tasks of restoring fixed resources damaged as a result of hostilities in Ukraine. Building Production, 74: 25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.36750/2524-2555.74.25-29.
2. Malchykova, D., & Pylypenko, I. (2023). War-Torn Territories and Society: Migration Processes, Cases, Contexts of Ukraine. Europa XXI, 45: 21–36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2023.45.6.
3. Heinonen, L., & Korhonen, I. (2023). The effects of the war on the Ukraine economy: The situation at the end of 2022 URL: https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/bofitb/12023.html
4. Struk, N. (2025). Ukraine’s Economic Recovery: Key Priorities for the Future. In The Economics of Russia’s War in Ukraine (1st ed., pp. 162–183). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003435433-6.
5. Al-Harithy, H. (2010). Lessons in post-war reconstruction : case studies from Lebanon in the aftermath of the 2006 war. Routledge.
6. Kudumovic, L. (2020). The experience of post-war reconstruction: the case of built heritage in Bosnia. Open House International, 45(3): 231–248. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/OHI-05-2020-0038.
7. Farnaz Arefian, F., Ryser, J., Hopkins, A., & Mackee, J. (2021). Historic cities in the face of disasters : reconstruction, recovery and resilience of societies. Springer.
8. Nate, S., Stavytskyy, A., Serbu, R., & Stoica, E. (2024). Conference discussion “Beyond conflict, Ukraine’s journey to recovery reform and post-war reconstruction.” Access to Justice in Eastern Europe, 7(2): 443–468. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33327/AJEE-18-7.2-n000245.
9. Maruniak, E., Lisovskyi, S., & Rudenko, L. (2023). The spatial dimension of the war effects in Ukraine: An agenda for country recovery. Europa XXI, 44: 6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2023.44.6.
10. Sokolenko, K. V., Sokolenko, V. M., Holodnov, O. I., & Chernih, O. A. (2023). Town-planning tasks and principles of restoration of urbanized territories of the Luhansk region, destroyed as a result of hostilities. IOP Conference Series. Earth and Environmental Science, 1254(1), 12078. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1254/1/012078.
11. Izarova, I., Hartman, Y., & Nate, S. (2023). War damages compensation: a case study on Ukraine [version 1; peer review: 1 approved]. F1000 Research, 12: 1250–1250. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.136162.1.
12. Zahorskyi, V. (2024). Legal Consequences of Economic and Financial Damage Caused to Cultural Heritage: The Case of Armed Aggression against Ukraine. Economic Affairs (Calcutta), 69(2): 967–977. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46852/0424-2513.3.2024.22.
13. Mykhnenko, V. (2020). Causes and Consequences of the War in Eastern Ukraine: An Economic Geography Perspective. Europe-Asia Studies, 72(3): 528–560. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2019.1684447.
14. Shevchuk, S. A., Vyshnevskyi, V. I. & Bilous O. P. (2022). The Use of Remote Sensing Data for Investigation of Environmental Consequences of Russia-Ukraine War. Journal of Landscape Ecology, 15(3): 36–53. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jlecol-2022-0017.
15. Kholoshyn, I. V., Syvyj, M. J., Mantulenko, S. V., Shevchenko, O. L., Sherick, D., & Mantulenko, K. M. (2023). Assessment of military destruction in Ukraine and its consequences using remote sensing. IOP Conference Series. Earth and Environmental Science, 1254(1): 12132. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1254/1/012132.
16. Bonchkovskyi, O.S., Ostapenko, P.O., Shvaiko, V.M. & Bonchkovskyi, A.S. (2023). Remote sensing as a key tool for assessing war-induced damage to soil cover in Ukraine (the case study of Kyinska territorial hromada). Journal of Geology, Geography and Geoecology, 32: 474–487. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15421/112342.
17. Popovych, V., Popovych, Y., Serba, T., & Novak, T. (2023). Psychosocial Consequences of armed Conflicts on Society. Clinical Social Work Journal / CWS, 14(3): 47–55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22359/cswhi_14_3_07.
18. Topchiiev, O. G., Malchykova, D. S., Pylypenko, I. O. & Yavorska, V. V. (2020). Methodological foundations of geography: Textbook. Kherson : Publishing House “Helvetica”, 366 p. [In Ukrainian]. [ Топчієв, О. Г. Мальчикова, Д. С., Пилипенко І. О., Яворська В. В. (2020). Методологічні засади географії : підручник. Херсон: Видавничий дім «Гельветика», 366 с. ].
19. Keudel, O., & Huss, O. (2023). Polycentric governance in practice: the case of Ukraine’s decentralised crisis response during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice (published online ahead of print 2023). Retrieved Feb 1, 2024, from URL: https://doi.org/10.1332/25156918Y2023D000000002.
20. De Cunto, G. (2021). Bonding Between Urban Fabric and Capacity of Collective Resilience: The Case of Talca Historic Centre, Chile. In Historic Cities in the Face of Disasters (pp. 355–367). Springer International Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77356-4_20.
21. Palekha, Y. M., Malchykova, D. S., Antonenko, N. V., & Pylypenko, І. О. (2023). Approaches to the Territorial Communities’ Typification of Ukraine as a Result of the Russian Military Aggression. Ukrainian Geographical Journal, 4: 36–43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/ugz2023.04.036.
22. Malchykova, D. & Pylypenko, I. (2022). Occupation urbicide: urban experience and everyday practices of the population (a case of Kherson, Ukraine). Ekonomichna ta Sotsialna Geografiya, 88: 6–15. [In Ukrainian]. [ Мальчикова, Д., Пилипенко, І. (2022). Окупаційний урбіцид: міський досвід та повсякденні практики населення (приклад Херсона, Україна). Економічна та соціальна географія, 88, 6–15. ]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/2413-7154/2022.88.6-15.
23. Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. (2017) The Occupation of the Senses: The Prosthetic and Aesthetic of State Terror. The British Journal of Criminology, 57(6): 1279–1300. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azw066.
24. Pylypenko, I., & Malchykova, D. (2023). Der Kachovka-Stausee Wirtschaftsmotor und Kriegsschauplatz. Osteuropa, 73(1–2): 53–60. DOI: https://doi.org/10.35998/oe-2023-006.
25. Ukraine : UNDP and UNHCR partner to support recovery and durable solutions for war-affected communities in Ukraine. (2024). In MENA Report. Disco Digital Media, Inc.
26. Earnest, J. (2019). Managing projects in war-torn societies. Journal of Management History, 25(4): 585–602. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-02-2019-0007.
27. del Castillo, G. (2014). War-torn countries, natural resources, emerging-power investors and the UN development system. Third World Quarterly, 35(10): 1911–1926. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2014.971610.
28. Manes, N. (2022). Miller Canfield forges Ukrainian alliance; Effort aims to rebuild war-torn country. Crain’s Detroit Business, 38(35): 3.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Akademperiodyka Publishing House of NAS of Ukraine
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
