In Kyiv, the old Zelensky house was illegally demolished to build the Turgenev residential complex.
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On July 20, Kyiv residents even went out to protest outside the city hall on Khreshchatyk. The protesters held posters with the slogans “enough of destroying Kyiv”, “not by the tyranny of the Kyiv City Council” and “A new anthill will not bring victory closer”.
The police opened a criminal case regarding the demolition of the building.
Marina Solovieva, Director of the Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Kyiv City State Administration, called the demolition of the estate a “shocking situation” and “cynical arbitrariness.”
According to her, two days before the demolition, the public organization “Heritage Kyiv” submitted to the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection a package of revised accounting documentation on assigning the building at 22 Oleksandr Konissky Street the status of a monument.
This step is part of the action plan previously signed with the department to implement petition No. 12870 “Preserve the historic Zelensky estate,” supported by the mayor.
The Ministry of Culture noted that “the destruction of historical buildings is a cynical violation of monument protection and urban planning legislation and state building codes.”
The site of the historic building was under construction for a long time without permission from the Ministry of Culture, so in January 2024 it was seized. However, on July 19, unknown persons demolished the building. Now the prosecutor’s office is investigating the destruction of property that was seized (Part 1 of Article 388 of the Criminal Code) and unauthorized construction (Part 3 of Article 197-1 of the Criminal Code). The equipment used to demolish the estate was found and seized.
History of the issue
The estate was built in 1890. It is famous because the wealthy Zelensky family lived here from 1911 to 1915.
There have been attempts to dismantle the building since at least 2018. In 2022, dismantling was suspended while the Ministry of Culture checked its historical value.
According to the prosecutor’s office, in January 2024, this building was seized with a ban on use, disposal and alienation as part of a criminal case initiated on the fact of intentional illegal destruction, demolition or damage to cultural heritage sites.
Prosecutors requested the seizure because, according to the General Plan of Kyiv, the said land plot is within the boundaries of the city’s historical area.
The construction work requires approval from the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, which was not available. Therefore, due to the arrest of the building, all work must be stopped.
Klitschko’s reaction
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy called the unauthorized demolition of the Zelensky estate on July 21 a cynical provocation – especially a few days after the Kyiv City State Administration Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage received a package of revised accounting documentation on assigning the building at 22 Oleksandra Koniskoho Street the status of a landmark.
This was done in support of a petition to preserve the historic building.
Activists come to the city hall building. They say, “Klitschko tore down the monument.” But why don’t the outraged demonstrators go and ask questions to the parliament, which for more than 5 years has not adopted the bill submitted by the city so that the capital would have leverage over the unscrupulous owners of old buildings? Why don’t they appeal to the government, which the city has been demanding for so many years to return the Sikorsky House, which is on the balance sheet of the Ministry of Defense, to the community’s ownership. The capital has made so many requests to return the crumbling building to the city, restore it and create a museum of the famous aircraft designer. The same Cabinet of Ministers blocked the transfer of the Hospitable Yard to the community, which the city, together with the activists, returned from private to state ownership. And the monument also stands without reconstruction and is falling apart.
Over the past few years, the city has sent dozens of requests to the Ministry of Culture to include more than one and a half thousand monuments and newly discovered cultural heritage sites in the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine. But the ministry has only included about a hundred, the capital’s mayor wrote.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.