A new community building opens as part of UNDP-UNHCR project to support recovery and returns in the south of Ukraine

© Anton Sevastianov / UNDP in Ukraine

Zavodske, Mykolaiv Oblast, 11 February 2026 — UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have officially inaugurated a rehabilitated community and village council building in Zavodske, Mykolaiv Oblast. The facility, restored with support from the Ukraine Community Recovery Fund (UCRF), houses the local administration offices and provides a vital multi-functional space for civic and social activities in the community.

The efforts in Zavodske are part of a broader joint project by UNDP and UNHCR, “Mine Action and IDP Return in the South of Ukraine”, that was launched in August 2024. The project focuses on creating safe conditions for return, rebuilding homes and infrastructure, and restoring essential services in partnership with local authorities and civil society across Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts. These areas faced the severe impacts of occupation, destruction, and displacement as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The project specifically targets four communities — Zavodske and Shyroke in Mykolaiv Oblast and Vysokopillia and Velyka Oleksandrivka in Kherson Oblast — spurring their early recovery.

The project’s various activities address specific concerns from both Ukrainian refugees abroad and internally displaced people that were raised in surveys on their intention to return: safety from mines and explosive remnants of war, damage to housing and social infrastructure, and the lack of essential services and employment opportunities.

UNDP is leading efforts on community security, mine action, debris removal, and institutional capacity-building in the south of Ukraine. In Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, debris removal operations in the