Estonia begins construction of second apartment building for internally displaced people in Ukraine

The apartment building and accompanying bomb shelter will be built in the village of Brusyliv in the Zhytomyr Region to help alleviate the housing shortage for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the area. 

According to the agreement, the Brusyliv Municipality will allocate a suitable plot of land, make the necessary preparations and set up the communication networks. ESTDEV will procure designers and builders to implement the project. The apartment building is expected to be completed in 2026. 

According to ESTDEV's executive director, Klen Jäärats, the building will be made using wooden modules, highlighting Estonia's strength as a producer of wooden structures and the Zhytomyr Region's potential for its own wooden construction sector. 

"Estonia is Europe's largest exporter of wooden modular buildings. We have a strong construction sector and valuable experience participating in reconstruction projects in Ukraine. Zhytomyr is also a very forested region, where there is a great opportunity for the emergence of a strong wooden house sector," said Jäärats, adding that "new opportunities and job creation would significantly contribute to the integration into Ukrainian society of both IDPs and men returning from the front." 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates there are about 3.7 million IDPs in Ukraine. Vitalii Bunečko, head of the Zhytomyr's regional administration, confirmed that providing housing for IDPs and integrating them into local life is the region's biggest challenge. In the early months of the war, the region received about 126,000 fellow citizens who fled from areas near the front. About 56,000 have remained in the region and want to rebuild their lives there. 

Brusyliv has long-standing experience involving IDPs in the village's development. Head of Brusyliv's village council, Volodymyr Habinets, said that many who arrived after the Chornobyl disaster in 1986 or after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 have stayed in the village. "I am glad that Estonians are helping us to provide new apartments and a new life for those who had to leave their homes due to the Russian war of aggression," Habinets said. 

In addition to the Brusyliv apartment project, Estonia is renovating an apartment building for IDPs in Ovruch, which will be completed by the end of this year.