The Berdychiv municipality, Zhytomyr Oblast, consists of only three settlements, but it is quite industrialised.
“The war, obviously, interfered, but the businesses are all running. As a municipality, we did everything to keep them afloat. And I am glad that no one has quit,”
says Serhii Orliuk, head of the municipality.
When the full-scale invasion began, the municipality focused on the defence of the city: they built fortifications, accumulated population and business.
“Everything had to be drastically re-planned, and some things had to be completely abandoned. War does not let you choose. You have to adapt to it,”
recalls Volodymyr Lipetskyi, Director of the Berdychiv Brewery.
Hennadii Haletskyi, Director of the Myasovita Meat Processing Plant, recalls that on the morning of February 24, they recalled all the trucks off their routes and tried to calm down the workers:
“People stood in front of the main road and refused to go to work. We had to stand there with them for half an hour or an hour, telling them that everything would be fine, we would win, we had to go to work.”
The people of Berdychiv rallied, managed to adjust internal processes and focused on helping others. During the year and a half of the war, the municipality sheltered more than 5,000 internally displaced persons and two businesses from the Kherson and Sumy Oblasts.
“Here, we do not divide into our people or strangers; we are all in it together. And we have already become great friends. The only problem was housing. But the city helped, because we are in direct contact with the mayor,”
says Hennadii Haletskyi.
