Conflict in UNESCO protected area near St. Kirillovskaya Church escalated into break-in and fire

On December 17, another construction site flared up in Kyiv and appeared without permits. This is the ninth similar fire in a year and the third in the last month. Legal nihilism and the simple inaction of local officials provoke ordinary Kyivans to extremely radical actions, which soon risk becoming a black “panacea” in the struggle of citizens for their violations of rights.

Helplessness, clumsiness and incompetence…

Probably with these three words, almosy every Kyivan today can christen the bureaucratic system in the capital. The Master Plan 2020 and the Master Plan 2025, which sometimes act together, are mutually exclusive, and sometimes even replaced by detailed plans of the territory – this is a vivid confirmation.

More and more public protests against illegal buildings end up in flames

In fact, there are a lot of such examples. The state bodies on the golden square lands are in a hurry to take over the powers of the local self-government body, and the latter, represented by the Kyiv City Council, is not opposed to doing it. Otherwise, how to explain the vagueness of the powers of certain Departments of the executive body of the City Council – Kyiv City State Administration, which in accordance with their own Regulations: “exercise control in the field of”. “. Next – substitute the required wording: “urban planning / health / catering“ ”

In fact, the central and local authorities during the years of independence have created a universal mechanism of collective (abstract and abstracted) responsibility, when, for example, permission is issued by the state, and approval by local authorities or vice versa. Ideally, this should mean that the customer of such a permit is under double control both “by the government” and “at the spot”… However, in Ukraine, unfortunately, it looks a little different! In particular, in the capital, developers interpret such provisions of the law in their own way: if you failed to “agree” on a permit – follow the agreement and you will be happy (the law).

“Everything is legal with us …”

The position of the company of ex-regional and developer Volodymyr Zubyk “Intergal-Bud” on the street. Makarivska, 3-5, in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital, has not changed throughout the confrontation with the local community. The rhetoric of the authorized representative of construction – Sergey Altynnikov changed only in formulations, but the maintenance was one – construction in this territory is carried out legally on the basis of the relevant permits.

Altynnikov offers people resettlement to new apartments, in exchange for loyalty

As for the latter, among them is indeed the permission of the main state body in the field of construction – the State Construction Inspectorate (hereinafter – SCI) № IU 113193242515 dated November 20, 2019. However, this permit has a reservation: “if necessary, obtain the approval of the body for the protection of cultural heritage.”

This means that the relevant construction works must be approved at the local level by the executive body of the city council (its profile department). All because SCI approves only the “construction” component of the project, in fact, it does not know and is not obliged to know the detailed situation on the ground – the site belongs to the protection zones, protected objects or other features of the legal regime of land use.

This is what the construction project looks like ”Source: Lun

And here is the most interesting, because the area where “Intergal-Bud” plans to build three 25-storey buildings, belongs to the buffer zone of the UNESCO World Heritage Site – “St. Kirillovskaya Church” and is part of a monument of local importance – “Historical landscape of Kyiv mountains ”, where the maximum height of construction may not exceed 15 m, ie 5 floors, and approval for the relevant work must be issued by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy (hereinafter – the Ministry of Culture).

There are no permits, but “there are documents”

As you may have guessed, neither the Ministry of Culture nor the Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the executive body of the Kyiv City Council (Kyiv City State Administration) has issued any permits for new high-rise construction in the buffer zone of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s just impossible!

“Instead, every time the police came to call local residents, there was only one sollution -” there are documents, “- says public activist Oleg Simoroz. He, along with Sviatoslav Kutnyak, a former member of the Kyiv City Council, helped the local community through the Kyiv City Council and state regulators to fight the developer, who ignores the law. “More than a year ago, we opened a criminal case – Article 356 [“Arbitrariness”]. There is a responsible investigator of the Shevchenkivskyi police department – he is under Art. 356 is obliged to “get acquainted with the construction” and make a decision – is it legal or illegal… But this does not happen, because Arsen Avakov and all his “improvised” have reached an agreement with local authorities, which (Vitaliy Vladimirovich [Klitschko]) are the best friends of developers “, – the public figure is convinced.

If the world was ending!

Of course, this state of affairs, to put it mildly, cannot satisfy ordinary Kyivites, especially the local community, because already at the stage of the first test works on the construction site, people cracked houses located near illegal buildings. In addition, the Department of Urban Development of the Kyiv City State Administration is completely inactive, which, according to the same Kutnyak, declared the fence around the construction illegal, but for some reason is in no hurry to implement the decisions to dismantle it… And then the police come and wave – he says: “it’s not titushki ”they are sports guys”… Read more about this in our article: “Contrary to UNESCO requirements and without permits, they are trying to build“ Kyiv Switzerland ”near the Kirillovskaya Church”)

In the evening of December 17 on Makarivska Street, the answer was one – fire to oblivion! As a result, the “improvement” order was carried out by local residents and activists from national-patriotic organizations. In the morning, the area looked like a battlefield with a mutilated fence and burned-out security and construction facilities. For now, it is a living reminder of how indifference and corruptness of power can lead to people driven to despair.

Dmitry Perov founder of the NGO “Green Minute”

Translation: Starovoit Olha