In the Rivne region, a married couple lives in a 200-year-old house with an old-fashioned stove
In the village of Zelenyi Dub in the Rivne region, a married couple, Vira and Mykola, live in a house that is about 200 years old. The house was built by the wife’s great-grandfather and has retained its traditional layout, with stove heating and an old hearth that remains the main source of heat in the winter.
According to Vira, her great-grandfather built the house, and it has hardly been remodeled since then. At the same time, the house and the stove are in need of repair, but the couple doesn’t have the funds for it.
“My great-grandfather, a man named Basil, built it. We haven’t remodeled it. We just patch things up as we go—everything’s falling apart, and I’m constantly fixing things in the house. The stove is already coming apart, but we won’t be able to fix it. Since there are two of us living there, we’d have to move everything out and rebuild it. And where would we rebuild it, and how would we afford it? I get a pension of three thousand hryvnias. So does he. How am I supposed to buy those tiles or bricks?” the woman said.
In the winter, the family lives in a single room heated by a stove. The woman also uses it to cook meals and bake.
“We live in one room in the winter, and we don’t heat the rest of the house. Just like this, in the stove. I bake pies in the stove—sometimes a flatbread, because he really loves it—so we have something to go with our tea,” added Vira.
The woman recalls that she used to do embroidery—her work still decorates the house. She also talks about the difficult living conditions and the lack of opportunities for repairs.
According to her husband, the village once had over 100 households, but now there are only about 70 residents left. Many houses stand empty because the young people have moved to the city.
Everyday Hardships in the Village
- There is no store in the village
- There is no public transportation
- You can only get there by car
- Food and other goods have to be brought in from other towns
Despite this, Vira leads an active spiritual life—every Sunday she goes to church in the Gurby area, six kilometers from home, where she sings in the choir.
The story of the couple from Zelenyi Dub illustrates the realities of life in small Ukrainian villages, where people maintain their traditional way of life despite the age of their homes, the lack of infrastructure, and challenging socioeconomic conditions.
The elderly couple spoke to journalists about life in their historic home.
Earlier, the “Apostrophe TV” YouTube channel released a documentary about the restoration of the village of Ivangorod in the Chernihiv region, which survived the Russian occupation and years of socioeconomic decline.
