In April 2015, with the help of Tomas Vlach, emergency coordinator for the NGO "People in Need",
I visited families living in old cold war bunkers in the cities of Marianka and Petrovsky -
Donetsk Oblast (province), Ukraine.
They live there for two possible reasons: either their houses got destroyed or damaged by the
fighting between Ukrainian army and the separatists, or they are just afraid, traumatized by
the constant sound of the mortars, bombs, automatic weapons, etc.
Hence, they chose to abandon their home and seeked refuge in these old underground concrete constructions.
Most of the families began abandoning their houses in August 2016 as the battle between the protagonists was getting
extremely intense. These bunkers are located in the separatists controlled zone.
Humanitarian organizations can have access to it.
However, it’s very difficult to organize things since it is a war area.
Some of the bunkers have electricity, and most of them don't have any water system.
So, either humanitarian organizations bring bottles of water,or during the day, the
residents run back to their houses to fill bottles.
The concrete walls of the bunkers are unpainted, so, a fine white dust constantly falls from the cement.
It gradually covers beds, tables and everything. And it rises when you walk, even if the families try
their best to clean it up.
Since the end of cold war, these bunkers have been unused, so the owners (coal mines, municipality, etc.)
tolerate these squatters for humanitarian reasons.