LocationsModern solutions for the life and reconstruction of the Sumy community, implemented with assistance from UNDP and its partners
Sumy: a recovering city
April 7, 2026
Sumy lies just a few dozen miles from the border of Russia – this is a neighbour that began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago. Consequently, a frontline reality has taken root in the city’s daily life: drones overhead, air-raid sirens, and buildings left partially destroyed.
Yet alongside this, meaningful changes are underway. Courts and administrative service centres are becoming digitized; rehabilitation facilities are being equipped with modern technology; and new veteran hubs are emerging. Working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine and its partners, the city has seen a wide range of initiatives aimed at strengthening and supporting the community.
Amid the clamour of war, Sumy is gradually rebuilding and learning to meet its challenges.
People hold the community together
The first impression of Sumy is shaped by its crowded morning buses, students carrying rucksacks, cosy cafés, and light in the windows of high-rise flats. The city is full of people – and full of life. The second dimension is an ever-present tension, the instinct to listen closely, the expectation of shelling, homes reduced to rubble, lives lost and traumas carried quietly.
Residents of Sumy long ago learned to distinguish the sound of different weapons. After a strike, the city does not pause. Municipal workers clear shattered glass before dawn, while residents across various districts tape their windows and resume their business. This is their frontline daily life, in which despite everything, there is room for reconstruction and plans for the future continue to take shape.
Oksana Kubrak, head of the Department for Strategic and Socio-Economic Development of the Sumy City Council, coordinates the Recovery and Development Office, which was established in 2023 with support from UNDP, the European Union (EU) and the Government of Sweden. She explains that this space was envisioned as a communication platform – a place to discuss projects, provide training, hold debates and make collective decisions. Oksana is one of the local leaders working to ensure that residents remain in the city and that local businesses can continue to operate.
“Sumy recovers and rebuilds quickly. At the same time, the city is losing people. The population has decreased from more than 270,000 to 260,000, including 32,000 displaced persons,” Oksana said.
To encourage people to stay in Sumy, the Recovery and Development Office implemented dozens of initiatives in 2025 alone – from installing modular shelters near shopping centres that lack basements to offering psychological courses that help residents cope with the realities of war.
The Office has also become a venue for events hosted by various organizations and businesses. Residents frequently submit ideas for infrastructure improvements: repairing water utility reservoirs, installing solar panels, or strengthening critical infrastructure.
“We created the Community Development Council, an open association of active Sumy residents. We have already held more than a dozen meetings and developed 32 projects. Four of these were selected by the community as priorities: security, water, energy and infrastructure. Anyone can submit an idea. We have conducted many different training sessions. We are also working toward establishing a socio-economic hub in 2026 to support small and medium-sized businesses,” Oksana explained.
It is difficult to calculate the exact amount of funding mobilized through the Recovery and Development Office. According to Oksana Kubrak, the Department for Strategic and Socio-Economic Development – under whose leadership the Office operates – has alone secured nearly 29 million hryvnias (approximately US$674,420) for the city’s recovery.
To save and to teach
Meanwhile, at the Sumy Medical College, students in white coats practise step-by-step resuscitation techniques on mannequins, learning the skills needed to save lives. Every condition is created to support their success. In a city frequently under fire, high‑quality medical training is not merely important – it is essential.
Anton Kurylo, head of the college’s simulation and training centre, worked as a paramedic in the city’s ambulance service for over 20 years. Physical exhaustion prompted him to leave the frantic pace of emergency work and began teaching at the Sumy Vocational Medical College, where he had once been a student. However, throughout the teaching process, one issue continued to trouble him: the lack of practical, hands-on training. Changing that became his priority.
The first step was acquiring mannequins that would allow students to build real clinical skills. UNDP and the Government of Canada responded to the college’s request, enabling the purchase of essential equipment.
Now, in the simulation department, students do more than listen to lectures on resuscitation – they practise it methodically and repeatedly. Their training is supported by 3D anatomical atlases, a computer simulator for lung ventilation, and modern training mannequins. The institution also received a laptop, a multimedia board and office equipment. In addition, with support from UNDP and the EU, the college established its first-ever recreation room.
Rehabilitation for veterans
What students are practising on mannequins at the Sumy Medical College is already being applied to real patients at the Sumy Central City Clinical Hospital. The hospital has also received critically important equipment through cooperation with UNDP and the EU.
War has fundamentally changed rehabilitation needs. Veterans and civilians with severe injuries – including limb and spinal trauma – are returning to the city’s medical institutions, and rehabilitation departments must keep pace. At the city hospital, veterans now train on dozens of specialized machines to regain mobility after amputations and complex surgery.
Specialists note that regular, structured sessions significantly accelerate recovery. The modern robotic complexes provided through UNDP and the EU make rehabilitation more effective, particularly for patients with amputations or injuries to the upper limbs and torso.
“Veterans who received prosthetics, for example at one of the leading clinics in Lviv, return to Sumy for their next rehabilitation cycle and are satisfied with the services they receive here,” said Larysa Brazhnyk, head of the rehabilitation department.
Alongside equipment, UNDP and the EU also support training for Sumy’s medical professionals. As part of an ongoing educational initiative, specialists regularly visit rehabilitation centres in Dnipro, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk to strengthen their knowledge in caring for patients with amputations. Despite the city’s dangerous proximity to the front line, the rehabilitation department remains fully staffed.
Truly prompt ambulance
Even before 2022, the Sumy Oblast Emergency Medical Care Centre faced chronic challenges: insufficient funding, staff shortages, ageing infrastructure and an outdated ambulance fleet. Of the centre’s 152 specialized ambulances, 75 had long exceeded their service life and should no longer have been in operation. The fleet urgently needed renewal, but the necessary resources were unavailable.
For example, only ten Type C ambulances – the highest category of sanitary transport in the emergency medical system – served the entire Sumy Oblast. For a region bordering an active combat zone, this was critically inadequate.
The first changes began in early 2022.
Since then, through cooperation with UNDP, the Governmant of Canada, and the EU, Sumy Oblast has received five all-wheel-drive Type B ambulances (specialized vehicles for transporting patients), as well as one Type C ambulance.
According to staff, the new ambulances have reduced crew response times to as little as three minutes and significantly strengthened service reliability under difficult conditions. Integration with GPS allows dispatchers to optimize routes in real time, resulting in faster arrivals – and more lives saved.
To sew two worlds together
Professor Andriana Kostenko works simultaneously on several social initiatives, all connected to strengthening veteran policy at Sumy State University. She heads the Department of Psychology, Political Science, and Socio-Cultural Technologies and is also the co-founder of the non-governmental organization Intellect of Sumy Oblast, created by Sumy academics.
In February 2025, the university opened ReHAB, a Centre for Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine for Veterans, based at the university clinic. Veterans come not only for medical procedures but for a comprehensive rehabilitation pathway. The campus offers everything needed for this journey: a preventive clinic, a sports complex, a swimming pool and psychological services.
The idea for ReHAB first emerged within the university. Later, the team explored ways to secure grants and find partners beyond internal resources. Ultimately, part of the modern equipment – including unique systems for patients with spinal injuries who must exercise in a suspended position – was purchased with assistance from UNDP and the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
“We are as open as possible. We have many ‘doors’ for entry: through the website, the university clinic reception, a GP referral, the psychological service or the Veteran Development Centre,” Andriana noted, emphasizing that accessing help is simple and barrier-free.
The university campus itself has faced repeated shelling. Over the years of full-scale war, several buildings have been destroyed by Russian missile and drone attacks. One of the facilities where Andriana’s department worked was gutted by fire after a drone strike.
“Instead of 15 lecture rooms, we now have only three rooms and a shelter. Yet despite everything, we started the academic year on time. The university continues to work and remains among the best in Ukraine, also appearing in many international rankings. We decided: as long as the university stands, the city stands. And that helps us stay here,” she explained.
Surveys by the university team show that nearly 40 percent of veterans feel a sense of injustice upon returning from the front, experiencing difficulties with paperwork, loneliness and a distrust towards civilians. The university seeks to ‘sew together’ these two often parallel worlds.
“A large number of veterans have serious wounds and amputations. It is difficult for them to accept themselves in a new body. For some, family relationships deteriorate. Often, they do not trust civilian specialists and prefer people with similar experiences,” Andriana noted. This is why Sumy State University prioritizes joint projects where veterans and civilians work together – not for one another, but with one another.
Since December 2024, the communal institution VETERAN PRO: SUMSHCHYNA has been operating in Sumy. Established by the oblast council at the initiative of veterans and with support from UNDP and its partners, the institution was further assisted in 2024-2025 by the EU and the governments of Denmark, the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea. Its goal is to help veterans who have endured injuries and losses at the front to find their place in civilian life.
The institution is led by Mykola Zaritskyi, originally from Sumy Oblast, who worked in agriculture before being mobilized in 2015 to serve as a border guard. Following the full-scale invasion, he returned to the front as an artilleryman. Eight months later, he stepped on a mine and lost his leg.
Despite this, Mykola is always searching for ideas. He remained active in sports, competing in the Invictus Games, and even opened an inclusive nursery in Kyiv. His deputy, Serhii Kozniienko, served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2004. In 2014, he lost both legs during fighting in the Donbas, and after a long rehabilitation, he also joined the veteran movement.
Together, the men are developing an effective system for veteran reintegration in Sumy. They have created a space where veterans engage in adaptive sports such as sitting volleyball and crossfit. With support from UNDP and the Government of Denmark, the centre received specialized equipment including an air bike, a cross-trainer, a rowing machine and a training bench. To make these activities possible, the team arranged a partnership with a local gym.
But above all they aim to restore a sense of belonging.
“Lads in platoons and battalions were always part of something larger – part of a team. After an injury, that feeling often disappears. Sitting volleyball or crossfit brings it back,” Mykola explained.
Digitization that helps Sumy residents
One of the hubs that has never stopped working in Sumy is the Administrative Service Centre. It is always full of hustle and bustle.
Alla Stryzhova has headed the Centre since its creation in 2012. From 24 February 2022, she said, the Centre was closed to visitors for a period. Access to registers and information systems was blocked, and staff only provided consultations and issued ready documents. However, they later resumed work and made several changes.
The war has not only changed the services the Centre provides but has significantly expanded it: most residents now file applications about damaged property, compensation, or support for veterans and children affected by the war.
To ensure that administrative services are accessible, the Centre team (numbering nearly 100 people) uses a mobile suitcase received through UNDP and the EU. This equipment enables a mobile group to assist citizens who cannot reach the Centre on their own.
“The mobile suitcase has been a real godsend for us,” Alla said.
An administrator also travels with the portable kit to headquarters, dealing with damaged property, and collaborates with other services to ensure people receive help quickly.
Thanks to cooperation with the EU and UNDP, the Administrative Service Centre received modern server equipment, air conditioning for the server room, high-speed scanners for digitizing data, and card readers. These tools have significantly increased efficiency, sped up processes and made services more accessible.
The staff’s work is often complicated by hacker attacks on registers, staff shortages and constant air raid sirens. Yet the Centre – the director says – has adapted: appointments are even organized in basements. All this is so people who come with questions return home with answers.
Digitization is also evident in the work of the local court. As part of its effort to strengthen court capacity in Ukraine, with support from UNDP and the EU, the Zarichnyi District Court in Sumy also updated its equipment in 2024. This includes a modern server, an uninterruptible power supply for its stable operation, a video conferencing system for one of the courtrooms, and three computers.
“We replaced an outdated video conferencing system we had since 2013, which was vulnerable to power surges. Any server crash would have paralysed our work. The new equipment – with powerful power supply units – eliminates these threats and guarantees that data are not lost,” said Iryna Khaniukova-Lypova, deputy head of the Zarichnyi District Court staff.
Consequently, the court can conduct remote hearings in a stable and continuous manner.
“Every successful video conference is a positive story for citizens,” Iryna added. “People see that the court is becoming modern, open and accessible. Modern equipment allows participants to save time and travel costs, ensuring the continuity of hearings even under restrictions and bringing justice closer to people.
Ruins become a starting point
Traces of shelling are everywhere in Sumy: destroyed roofs, collapsed floors, and cracks in loadbearing walls. According to official data from the State Register of Damaged and Destroyed Property, some 1,200 residential buildings have been destroyed or damaged in Sumy since 24 February 2022. Behind every figure is a life, a flat, happiness, family photographs and memories left under the rubble.
It is not just residential buildings that have suffered: strikes have hit schools, hospitals and administrative buildings. For some structures, demolition is the only option. A specific challenge for the city has been the waste from destruction: clearing areas, sorting, reusing materials that can still serve a purpose, and minimizing environmental damage.
Responsibility for this entire process in Sumy was assigned to the communal enterprise Chyste Misto [‘Clean City’ in Ukrainian — Ed.]. By the beginning of 2026, over 16,000 tonnes of debris, concrete, brick, metal and wood had already been removed.
In 2025, with UNDP support and financial assistance from the governments of Japan, the Republic of Korea and Sweden, five damaged sites in Sumy were demolished and cleared. In total, 21 tonnes of waste were removed from these locations.
Heavy machinery now clears the physical remains of war. Where destroyed buildings stood yesterday, demolition crews work today – removing dangerous fragments step-by-step, despite constant constraints: limited resources, insufficient processing capacity and persistent security risks. This is why cooperation with UNDP and its partners has become so critical for Sumy.
“One example of this partnership in practice is the partial demolition of residential buildings at 81 Petropavlivska Street and 112 Herasyma Kondratieva Street,” said Inna Melnyk, deputy director of the Sumy City Council’s infrastructure department. “Certain sections and structural elements had been damaged by shelling and posed a risk of collapse. The projects involved inspections, the development of technical solutions, the safe demolition of hazardous parts and removal of waste.”
UNDP support, she notes, allowed them to move from ad hoc approaches to a more systematic and safer approach.
“Thanks to this, we were able to partially demolish damaged buildings, in accordance with sustainable reconstruction principles. It isn’t just about knocking things down, but inspecting, designing, and planning the recovery work,” Inna emphasized
Cleared sites in Sumy are viewed as a potential resource for future recovery, specifically for new construction once the war ends.
***
Sumy is a city that – given its location – cannot avoid threats, but it is teaching its citizens to take responsibility for the future. Over four years of full-scale war, recovery has become a philosophy of life and development. It is championed here by civil activists and civil servants, teachers who instruct children in shelters, medics who operate to the sound of sirens, and veterans rebuilding their lives after the front.
All of them remain in the city and keep it safe.
This material was prepared as part of the flagship “EU4Recovery – Empowering Communities in Ukraine” partnership between UNDP and the EU.
Photo credit: Maksym Kishka, Kostiantyn Chernichkin, Sofiia Stasiuk, Alla Shevchenko, Denys Kryvopyshyn / Reporters / UNDP in Ukraine
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