Children need to get to school, ambulances need to get to hospitals: Odesa Regional State Administration is asked to find a way to repair roads in the region

Odesa region is the largest region of Ukraine, and today, in addition to the difficult defense situation, it has to deal with its many rear issues, including road repairs. In some areas, it was last seen in Soviet times, local communities say, and ask the regional administration to find a way to repair it, as the issue is also argued by the safety and preservation of human life, UNN reports.

In these photos, it is really hard to tell when the roads were last repaired here and why the situation has been brought to the point where they have to be repaired when the country needs to accumulate resources for defense against the enemy. However, the situation is critical, says Valeriy Shovkaliuk, mayor of Rozdilnya.

"The last major repair of the road was before the 1990s, back in Soviet times. Since then, it has not been repaired. On this road (Rozdilna-Starostyno-Nadiia) we have 9 settlements and two educational institutions. Both schools operate on the basis of transportation, with children from four villages coming to one and five to the other. There are two big hills on the way, which are in very bad condition, and these are children - their safety, especially in winter. We take them to school in the morning and home in the evening on this road. Therefore, repairs are critically and urgently needed for the community," says Shovkaliuk.

The situation is similar in the Zakharivska ATC, but there is another pain there, in addition to children and patients - trucks that simply "lie down" on their side due to bad roads and are lifted by a tractor.

"Our road, from Novopavlivka to Perekhrestove, has a long descent. When it rains, when farmers are transporting grain, it gets very damaged. There have been cases when entire fuel trucks have lain on their side. That's why sometimes tractors are on duty there to lift the trucks so that they can continue to travel. This is a constant problem for our communities. Every year we add crushed stone, but there hasn't been a quality repair for 30 years," says Oleksiy Osiychuk, head of Zakhariv village.

They may also refuse to transport people because of the roads in Izmail district.

"It is extremely important to build an access road to the village of Omarbiya. Omarbiya village is the most remote and ancient district of Kiliya. It takes about 10-15 km to get to the center of Kiliya from Omarbiya, and about 6 km to get to the school and kindergarten. Previously, the school and kindergarten were located in Omarbiya, but eventually they were closed. Now the villagers take their children to the school and kindergarten in Kiliya.

People live in Omarbiya and use all the benefits of the city of Kiliya, such as the hospital, pharmacies, and shops. For people, this road is the only connection to the city to get there.

The road in need of repair is on the balance sheet of the local road service of Odesa region. The last time it was repaired was probably back in Soviet times. Or maybe not - it was built as it was and has served as such.

The condition of the road is critical, to put it mildly.

That's why this is the first issue: a school bus goes down that road, and we have big problems with its passage. Then there is also a shuttle bus that goes there. This is not the first time the carrier has said that it will refuse to transport there.

"Now we are in martial law, it may be expensive to do major repairs, so thanks to our cooperation with the UIA - we allocated 1 million 170 from our budget, and the Road Service added money, so the total amount is about 4 million UAH - patching work began last year. So that at least we can drive there today, and children can go to school," said Vyacheslav Cherniavsky, mayor of Kilia.