Those plattenbau apartments still provide affordable and good housing - often modernised with insulation or solar roofs - for hundreds of millions in postsoviet states for the same demographics that live in cottages, moldy drywall houses or rotting trailer parks in "first world" nations.

It don't think it is fair to characterize plattenbau as "Cheap, low-durability and unsafe". Many of these buildings have lasted for 65 years already and are plenty safe if no bombs are going of nearby. If you're actively being shelled almost no house is safe be it wood framing, brick or a modern glass skyscraper.

I grew up in a panel block, now live in a more recent building and my general impression is that while their build quality left much to be desired, I had no complaints about walkability. I could go to school, the clinic, the dentist or post office without crossing a road - only streets with heavily restricted traffic. Almost all parking spots were in a ring around my superblock.

Much of that was due to the fact that communists weren't so bent on squeezing as much value as possible from every square meter of land.

Meanwhile in more modern architecture the (built in 2002) block neighbouring mine is spaced a regulatory-approved 7 metres away - windows facing. My relative lives in an even newer apartment which has windows facing the southwest only. AC becomes a necessity in such circumstances.

I can't recall ever seeing panel blocks where you could peer into your neighbour's apartment like that. In all the instances I can think of both blocks have blank walls there.

nice article, would be nice also... some thoughts

- who finances? everything goes to war, even post-victory, focus will be on replenishing and criticial infra.

- shelters? only a handful of people with kids go to them

When the war started, I advised various public and business figures about houses for relocation and someone even replied that work was being done on it, but I don’t see any progress. I had many friends who lived in panel buildings and everyone complained, it was a real curse. In addition to poor sound insulation between walls, over time the panels start to delaminate, you constantly have to seal cracks to stop cockroaches from migrating. The lifespan is 20 years shorter than that of brick buildings, though it depends on the specific batch and some are of decent quality.

Another issue is centralized heating. Problems begin when they start repairing the pipes, going six months without hot water is normal. Insulation is a must, usually done on credit at your own expense.

These buildings are completely lacking in bomb resistance. Of course, there are many types and configurations, for example, I lived in Odessa in some fairly decent panel buildings that were apparently built for a few from the USSR Politburo, so probably elite.

Living underground is hell. It’s better to solve the problem politically with reliable air defense systems. On top of that, terrible high-tech bombs keep getting more advanced and basements could end up costing more than the houses built above them.

The outskirts of Kharkiv are a tragedy, condolences.