The losses of the city of Starobilsk (Luhansk region) from the Russian occupation are preliminary estimated at hundreds of millions of hryvnias, Head of Starobilsk City Military Administration Yana Litvinova has said.

"If we are talking about the housing stock, then we can roughly orient ourselves on the current pricing policy. However, if we talk about all the property taken out of the community, then we will be able to assess these losses after we enter the territory [after de-occupation]. Although I can already say that it is hundreds of millions of hryvnia," Litvinova told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to her, the most destruction as a result of Russian shelling in Starobilsk occurred in early February 2022: some houses were completely and partially destroyed, but today they have been completely demolished.

***

The interview of Yana Litvinova, the head of the Starobilsk MBA, was prepared as part of a joint special project of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency and East Europe Foundation “Community Experience” (https://interfax.com.ua/news/general/919611.html), launched in support by the Stiykist’ Programme which is implemented by East Europe Foundation within a consortium of non-governmental organisations led by ERIM (Equal Rights and Independent Media, France) and funded by the European Union. Its purpose is to show the experience of Ukrainian communities in the adaptation and integration of forcibly displaced persons in order to increase the efficiency of the work of local self-government bodies. You can learn more about effective interaction with IDPs in the free online course "Adaptation and integration of IDPs: experience and opportunities" on the educational "Zrozumilo!" platform