The municipality of Malyn stretches over 1,100 square kilometres, with 20 village councils, 77 settlements and a population of 40,000, all this only a few hundred kilometres away from the enemy. The full-scale invasion turned the municipality into a front-line zone.

"We found ourselves on the line of contact of our troops. On March 6, two devastating air strikes hit the central square of the city”, – recalled Pavlo Ivanenko, Deputy Mayor.

The city council building, art school, fire department, residential buildings and a church were damaged. Later, the enemy would destroy the bridge connecting the left and right banks, disrupting the city’s life, as emergency services were simply unable to reach places that needed them.

Since the outset of the full-scale invasion, more than a thousand residential buildings and approximately 70 infrastructure facilities have been damaged in total in the Malyn municipality, including medical and obstetric care facilities, schools and administrative buildings.

"We, as a local self-government, have made every effort to ensure the livelihood of our municipality and to ensure the evacuation of the population", – said Oleksandr Sytailo, Mayor.

Malyn received strong support from its international partners, in whose projects the municipality had actively participated until February 24.

"In these trying times, the municipality’s cooperation with the U-LEAD with Europe Programme has only intensified. For instance, the Programme provided construction tools, a loader, generators, a street light and other equipment to rebuild the damaged infrastructure", – said Vasyl Nevmerzhytskyi, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Zhytomyr Oblast.

According to the mayor, logistical assistance from partners became vital during that period.

"The equipment handed over by U-LEAD has been used to great effect by our municipality. A capital crossing was built during the construction and reconstruction of the existing bridge. However, in the spring of 2023, this crossing began to collapse due to the flood", – said Pavlo Ivanenko.

For the flood response, the municipality used equipment provided by U-LEAD — a gasoline generator with a light and a front-end loader. And recently they received two minibuses, as well as a dump truck.

"Thanks to U-LEAD, we received a brand new 3.5-tonne 9 seater van. With new equipment, we have a fully staffed and equipped emergency recovery team", – said Serhii Karpenko, Director of the Enerhia Utility Company of the Malyn City Council.

Despite the full-scale invasion, which has been going on for over 1,000 days, and thanks to assistance from partners, the Malyn municipality continues to plan and invest resources in its own development and provide services to its residents.

"The very fact of planning the strategic development of the municipality is an important element of resilience. We are committed to strengthening the municipality’s capacity", – emphasised Vasyl Nevmerzhytskyi.