John: Over the last week, we
have marked the one year
anniversary of the full scale
invasion of Ukraine by visiting
the frontlines, investigating
Russian war crimes, and
examining a new, united
Ukrainian identity.
Tonight, with the help of the
pulitzer center, we look at the
country's efforts to build anew.
Nick schifrin and videographer
Eric o'connor report on the
challenges of reconstructing a
country and fighting historic
corruption, as it still fights a
war.
Nick: Across Ukraine, the scars
are staggering.
Entire neighborhoods destroyed.
Hundreds of thousands of homes
burned out.
Ukraine says reconstruction
could cost more than a trillion
dollars.
But in bucha, a suburb of Kyiv,
where the Russians left behind
horror and destruction,
construction is beginning in
earnest, and the town is laying
a new foundation, to build a new
future.
Ukrainian 61-year-old volodymyr
perekhrestenko shows me the
Russian armored vehicle door,
that flew into his house.
They are upgrading the
insulation, and fixing the
walls, in a home that he's lived
in all his life, and before him,
his father, and grandfather.
Volodymyr: This is our nest.
We grew up here.
And we want to keep living here.
Nick: Why have you chosen to
rebuild even though the war
continues?
Volodymyr: We are hopeful.
We are confident that we will
win this war.
That our lives will be good.
Andrew: It's important to show
people the hope.
Nick: Andrew negrych is the
director of operations for the
global empowerment mission,
Ukraine.
A year ago he was an
entrepreneur about to open a new
business in western Europe.
On the day of the invasion, he
drove straight back home and
joined an organization that
delivers aid to people living
near the frontlines, and is now
rebuilding bucha.
The government pays to fix the
roads.
But it can't afford to rebuild
homes.
Most of that cost is being
covered by the Howard Buffett
foundation.
And the only reason this is
possible is that the Russians
left.
There are cities across hundreds
of miles of the frontline, where
no one is even considering
rebuilding.
How long do you think it will
take for Ukraine to rebuild?
Andrew: Years.
Maybe up to ten years just to
come back where to the point
where you was before the war.
Nick: But Ukraine doesn't want
to go back to February 2022.
It wants to build a new version
of itself, with technologic and
economic reforms.
Mr. Fedorov: We will need to
finish these economic
transformations to move away
from the soviet union, and move
away from socialism, to a full
fledged market economy.
Mikhael federov is a vice prime
-- Nick: Mikhael federov is a
vice prime minister and the
minister of digital
transformation.
He invited us into his
millennial hipster office.
Federov was born in 1991 -- the
same year post-soviet,
independent Ukraine was born.
Before the full-scale invasion,
federov led the government's
efforts to modernize with
technology.
>> Ukraine is the first country
in the world to equate a digital
passport with a physical one.
Nick: Especially using an app
called diia, that stores all
Ukrainians' documents.
Today, the app is a wartime
tool, how victims of Russian
bombing document damage, and
receive direct government
assistance.
Federov says digitization can
also help fight Ukraine's
domestic enemy -- corruption.
Mr. Fedorov: It's a different
approach to governance.
And right now, everybody is
reacting very quickly to any
problems we have in the
government.
Nick: Earlier this month,
Ukraine's equivalent of the FBI
launched its largest wartime
corruption crackdown.
They accused the head of Kyiv's
tax service of embezzling
millions.
And they arrested a deputy
minister of defense, accused of
overcharging soldiers for food.
Daria: I can't say that we are
absolutely eradicated
corruption, that is not true.
There are still problems.
But I'm saying that now after
the war, once we expose
problems, there is a reaction.
Nick: Daria kaleniuk is the
executive director of the
anti-corruption action center.
Daria: We will push away
Russians, but if we will have
weak institutions, Russians
could simply destroy us from
inside through their hybrid
operations and through
corruption.
Nick: She says the war has
changed Ukraine, and Ukrainians,
their lawmakers, and
international donors will demand
a clean government, a
requirement to join nato and the
European union.
Daria: We understand that eu is
not just to have a flag.
Eu means change of the rules.
Where dignity and justice and
fairness is in the core of the
values of the eu.
And this is what we are fighting
for.
Nick: The task ahead will take a
generation.
Ukraine says it must start now,
cleaning up the country, as it
wages the war.
For "Pbs news weekend," I'm Nick
schifrin in Kyiv.
John: You can watch all of
Nick's reporting on the one year
anniversary of the Russian
invasion on our website,