How Ukrainian defenders show their gratitude to the owners of homes where they stayed

By law, under martial law, the state has the right to alienate property and use resources of all forms of ownership for defense. Both during hostilities and in the rear of the army, defenders have to live not only in public facilities but also are forced to stay in the private homes of Ukrainians to keep warm, eat, wash, or spend the night.

Sometimes they must crash the door or window to get inside. At the same time, they respect the personal space and property of the owners of the apartments and houses they visit.

As a token of gratitude to the people, the defenders take only necessary things or food, clean up after themselves, feed the pets, and leave their rations and notes with gratitude to the owners.

“It is difficult not to notice the presence of ten men in a small house. I wanted the owners to know that it was Ukrainians, not Russians, who spent the night in their house. So, I decided to write a short note and thank them for the opportunity to spend the night in the heat,” — explained Andrii Pikhotskyi from the Dmytro Korchynsky Brotherhood Battalion, the author of the note left on April 1, 2022, in one of the houses in the village of Nova Basan in Chernihiv region.

Mykola Chaban, a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, lives with his unit in the village in Kyiv region. The servicemen occupied the house of a local doctor, who agreed to host the Ukrainian army at his home. “We are visiting our people, for whom we are fighting, and we are trying to show respect for their home. We do not break or destroy anything,” Mykola said.

Nazar Hnativ, a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that he was glad that his team was given access to the entire library in one of the village councils, where they were housed in March 2022. “As a token of gratitude, I decided to leave them a book that I took with me to the war. I hope someone will read it someday. And the book was Marcus Aurelius ‘Alone with myself’,” wrote Nazar.

Andrii Azarkhin shared a story about his son Kyrylo, who left a laptop in a house in the village of Severynivka in Kyiv region, which had been occupied and looted by Russian invaders. Kyrylo had already said goodbye to his computer when the soldiers of the Crimea Battalion called him and said that they had found it. After eliminating the enemy near the village, Ukrainian defenders found a laptop among other things stolen by the Russians. Since there was no password on the laptop the defenders had quickly found the owner, called, and brought the device to Kyrylo on the same day. “Thank you, our warriors, we are proud of you! And it’s not about the computer!” Andrii wrote.

Similar notes, as well as cases of cleaning up their random shelters or returning personal things by Ukrainian defenders, are not rare.

The response of civilians is no less touching. One of the Ukrainian servicemen says that he gave the locals a uniform for washing. Having received his service clothes fresh and clean, the soldier found the following note in the pocket of his fleece jacket.

By law, after the end of martial law, the state must reimburse damages for forcibly expropriated property in private or civil ownership. Currently, the civilian buildings used by Ukrainian servicemen are in good condition. That is why instead of complaining about compensation, their owners are overwhelmed with gratitude and respect for the Ukrainian defenders.

“Well, how can we not win with such people,” the serviceman Nazar Hnativ asks on his social network page.