Ukraine is rebuilding cities as fast as Russia destroyed them

Volunteers are mostly carrying it out, allowing government funds to remain focused on the war.In places where scars are still fresh, such as Bucha, or still being inflicted, like Kharkiv and other cities in eastern Ukraine, the driving force behind rebuilding is Ukrainians’ determination to prove to Russia — and to themselves — that Ukraine is anything but defeated.In Kharkiv, Stas Bocharnikov, a manager at a distribution company, felt so restless to get back to normal that he could only bear one week in a bomb shelter at the beginning of the war. Since then, he has spent nearly every day wrangling volunteers to clear the debris from strike sites — work that allows for more-specialized crews to get on with the task of either demolishing or rebuilding damaged structures.Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-most-populous city, is just 25 miles from the Russian border. If that happens, the efforts made by residents of Kyiv’s suburbs, including Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel — all of which were extensively demolished — may serve as a template.In Irpin, a suburb that was formerly home to about 60,000 people, municipal workers have worked on half-pay to repair dozens of water and sewage pumps.“We worked day and night without a day off,” said Artur Zahodirenko, the director of Irpin’s municipal water service, which relied on equipment supplied by aid agencies.About 16,000 people have returned to Irpin in recent days, said the mayor, Oleksandr Markushin.