A tearful woman has thanked a volunteer group who have repaired her home among many in Ukraine which have been damaged or destroyed by fighting.

Olga Varenyk had been living in her house in the northern Ukrainian village of Lukashivka for 32 years but in March she was left devastated after it was burnt to the ground.

But now a new house is being built for her by volunteers from the charity Repair Together, made up of hundreds of helpers from Ukraine and overseas whose sole mission is to re-build homes across the country that have been blitzed in the conflict.

Many volunteers have professions unrelated to building work while others, like carpenter Dominik Bibko, are able to put their skills to use. They start by removing all the debris, then they put down a new foundation, lay the bricks and fit a new roof.

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It's a tough job – in freezing temperatures – but the volunteers know exactly what they're doing.

Bibko is Slovakian and was living in the Netherlands for several years before coming to Ukraine to help out. 

"You treat the foundation with this rubbery paint, Because it's affected by frost and cold," he tells CGTN. "Then you start building the bricks, for which need you mortar. You build a couple of rows of bricks per day. Once you're done, you reinforce the roof part. That's where the roof itself will be resting on."

Varenyk is staying in a small outhouse next to the building site while her house is being rebuilt, and she passes her time by cooking for the workers.

"I am grateful from the bottom of my heart to all the volunteers and their parents who brought up such kind sensible children," she says, with tears in her eyes. "They found our village, which is not even on the map. They came and helped me. I'm so grateful."

Lukashivka is one of 17 villages that make up the local parish. Ten of them were taken over by the Russians during March, with 37 people losing their lives during the fighting and around 1,800 buildings damaged – 28 of them completely.

While they were there, the Russians used the local church as their headquarters. When Ukrainian forces regained control of it, they found a whole host of weaponry inside, including a number of Soviet-era missiles.

There's a lot to fix in Lukashivka – but not enough funds.

Local community leader Olena Shvydka says it would be impossible to rebuild the village without the help of volunteers. 

"Our community produces agricultural products," she says. "But this year we only planted 30 percent of our usual crops because of the conflict, so we don’t have any income. We need building materials but there is a severe lack of money."

Many people here still have no home to return to. Most are staying with friends or neighbors. But despite everything they have been through, they still attend services at the bombed-out church every Sunday. For now, they say, their prayers are all they have.