The Kyiv City Council is preparing to adopt a decision that could radically change the appearance of one of the capital's recreational areas. It concerns the transfer of a 3.19-hectare plot of land in Zhulyany, where a tennis arena and a paintball club currently operate, for a 10-year lease. Formally, the draft decision is presented as a step towards "the development of sports infrastructure," but the actual development plans indicate otherwise.
According to available information, a large-scale commercial and office complex with underground parking is planned to be built on the site of the existing sports facilities and recreational area. The indoor tennis court in this concept looks more like an auxiliary element, which allows to formally preserve the "sports" status of the project. The recipient of the land plot is JSC "Kiwi", the owner of which is Hanna Kovalenko - a former deputy of the Kyiv City Council, a business partner of Petro Poroshenko and Igor Kononenko, who is close to him, as reported by Bankova Mail.
The draft decision was prepared by the Department of Land Resources of the Kyiv City State Administration. The political curator of the process is Deputy Mayor Vladislav Andronov, who is currently responsible for land issues in the capital's administration. The basis for transferring the land for lease is "acquisition of ownership of real estate", that is, the presence of sports facilities on the site is actually used as a legal pretext for gaining control over a significant land mass in an attractive location with a subsequent change in its functional purpose.
The figure of Hanna Kovalenko attracts special attention. In 2023, she resigned her deputy mandate early after receiving suspicion from the NABU in a case of false declaration of more than 60 million hryvnias. Despite this, today the structure under her control claims one of the valuable land assets of Kyiv. At the same time, the procedure takes place without an open competition, alternative concepts for the development of the territory, or a full-fledged public discussion.
The situation in Zhulyany demonstrates a configuration familiar to Kyiv: a former deputy, close political and business ties to influential figures, a specialized department of the Kyiv City State Administration, and a vice mayor overseeing land issues. The result could be the transfer of almost 3.2 hectares of city land for commercial development under the guise of a "sports project," where sports play a secondary, decorative role.
The story of this plot is not so much about tennis or the development of urban infrastructure, but about a systemic approach to land management in the capital. Due to formally legal procedures and necessary approvals, recreational and sports spaces are gradually disappearing, giving way to commercial development in the interests of a narrow circle of people. Against this background, the key question becomes not only the specific vote of the Kyiv City Council, but also who and under what conditions continues to determine the fate of urban land, despite criminal suspicions and public statements about leaving politics.
