Ruined and half-ruined houses, and behind them - the huge chimney of an unfinished nuclear power plant. This is what the city of Orbita in Ukraine looks like today. At first glance, you can't tell whether people once lived in this place or not. The looters have tried to hide the traces of the former life here: they have stolen the doors, balconies, furniture, household appliances. But although at first glance Orbita looks like a ghost town, deep inside it comes to life - people sit on benches, cats run around the yards, a car roars from the garage.
The History of Orbita
Orbita has no official status. Moreover, the city was once held in high esteem - it was called a "promising city".
In the 1970s, the Soviet authorities wanted to build a state-owned regional power plant here. Then, as part of plans for the development of nuclear energy, they decided to build a nuclear power plant with four units. Then, in parallel, construction of a city for workers at the future power plant began - they erected blocks, opened a department store, and built a cultural center.
Initially, about 5,000 people lived in local dormitories - mostly young people with small children. Gradually, the housing stock in Orbita was to be increased, and another 15,000 people were to settle in the city. But in the 1980s, the construction of the nuclear power plant was frozen, and after the Chernobyl tragedy it was finally stopped. Over time, Orbita declined, most people left, and then the city itself ceased to exist.
Without a pharmacy, post office, and hospital
About a hundred people live in the two partially inhabited five-story blocks - mostly retirees who arrived in the newly founded Orbita as young people.
Among them is the assembly worker Nina. She moved into the dormitory in 1977 with her husband and their newborn baby. Her husband worked on the construction of the power plant. Soon the family received a three-room apartment in the five-story block, and Nina has lived there ever since. "I buried my husband here, we had three children. How could I leave? I would deprive them of a roof and wander somewhere in the world. And where would I go? I will stay here as long as I am given", the pensioner tells DV.
Nina is not afraid of the household and infrastructure problems, which are not few. The residents of Orbita have repeatedly had difficulties with water supply, have been left without gas and heating. Ten years ago, the locals themselves took care of connecting Orbita to the gas supply and installed gas boilers in the homes.
There is no pharmacy, post office or hospital in the town. If someone gets sick, they have to travel to the town of Chigirin, which is 11 kilometers away. There is also no school or kindergarten - the local children go to the neighboring village of Vitovo, which is 5 kilometers from Orbita. The only shop in the town was closed three years ago, and buses have not run for more than five years. Getting to work is a real adventure, the locals say. That's why they jokingly call Orbita "a city for retirees".
"My nest is here"
But despite all the inconveniences, people don't leave Orbita. "I like it here a lot - I'm used to it and I don't feel like going anywhere else. My brother used to call me to him when we had problems with the heating, but I told him: No, my nest is here", explains Nina.
Ten years ago, new residents began to arrive in Orbita: after 2014, settlers came from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and after the war - from the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine. The low prices of housing here are especially attractive.
This factor is also central for Yevgeny, who has fled the war twice in the past ten years. In the summer of 2014, he moved with his family from Donetsk to Lviv, but they could not bear to be without their homeland for long and settled in their villa in the Kramatorsk region. However, the Russian invasion of 2022 deprived the family of a home for the second time, and so in the fall of the same year they settled in Orbita. Relatives helped find a home, and Yevgeny's son provided the money for the purchase.
A second chance for life
Now, housing prices in the city start at $2,000. If the home is in good condition and has heating, the price is higher. But homeowners in the city are in no hurry to sell them - they expect prices to rise if the plans announced in the summer of 2024 for the completion of the plant are implemented. It is planned to build four new power units on the site of the plant, which means that Orbita will get a second chance for life.
"The intention is to revive Orbita and turn it into a very modern city. The successful implementation of these plans will definitely represent a serious investment in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine and in maintaining the nuclear security of the country. The introduction of innovative nuclear technologies will make Ukraine a leader in the field of atomic energy with unique experience and its own technological solutions," says the head of the Ukrainian state company "Energoatom" Petr Kotin.
However, it is not yet known when construction will begin. And in Orbita, that is all they talk about. Locals hope that one day a new modern city will appear in place of the ruins.
Author: Marina Barba