The Government of Ukraine has made an official decision regarding the location of the National Military Memorial Cemetery , after more than a year of debates and discussions. According to the announced decision, the memorial complex will be built near the village of Gatne, Fastiv district, located near Kyiv.
It is planned that space for a military cemetery will be set aside in this area, as well as the necessary ritual structures, such as columbariums and a crematorium, will be erected. In addition, in the future, a museum will be opened here and a park will be created, where "trees of memory" will be planted. The first burials of the deceased at the memorial cemetery are planned for the end of 2024, and other construction works are planned to be completed in the next few years.
Protests and disagreements regarding the location of the memorial complex in the capital were noted earlier, especially from environmentalists and local residents.
Given that the area intended for the memorial complex is more than 260 hectares and is located near many settlements, the BBC conducted additional research to find out whether a similar situation would arise in the Fastiv district.
The idea of creating a national military memorial cemetery arose back in 2011, when the parliament adopted the relevant law. The intentions at that time were due to the lack of places for burials of deceased veterans of the Second World War and the Afghan Wars, as well as participants of other military conflicts in the capital and other cities.
With the beginning of the Russian aggression in 2014, the authorities again turned to this idea and developed the "Plan of measures to perpetuate the memory of the defenders of Ukraine". However, only in 2022 did they begin actively looking for a place for the memorial complex.
The government of Kyiv, fulfilling the instructions of the government of the country, has allocated a plot of land in the Lysa Gora tract in the Holosiiv district of Kyiv for construction. However, such a decision provoked protests by public organizations, mainly environmental ones, which emphasized that the tract is a national natural complex with a complex topography and cannot be a burial place for the dead.
After rejecting "Bald Mountain", the Verkhovna Rada last May voted to create a memorial cemetery near the village of Bykivnia, located not far from Kyiv. However, in the "Bykivnian Graves" reserve, it was stated that this is impossible due to the possibility of unexamined burials of victims of Stalin's repressions.
Public organizations offered as alternative options the territory of the Singing Field in the Pechersky Landscape Park, the wasteland at the Exhibition Center (former VDNG) and the wasteland near the Berkivetsky cemetery.
However, in the end, the government decided to consider options outside of Kyiv, as no plot of land large enough to build a large memorial was found in the capital.
Yaroslav Starushchenko, deputy director of the state institution "National Military Memorial Cemetery", told VBS Ukraine that the decision to allocate the land was made by the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, and not by the territorial village community, as the plot belongs to state property. This was preceded by meetings with members of the public and elders of neighboring villages, who were fully informed of the plans for the memorial.
Thus, he believes, there will be no conflict with the Gatna Territorial Community in connection with the construction of the cemetery.
Yaroslav Starushchenko noted that the site is located outside the settlement and is part of the forest along the route to Kyiv.
He also emphasized that the crematorium will be built in accordance with European standards and will be located at a sufficient distance from villages.
"Any impact on ecology is excluded," he stressed.
BBC Ukraine asked the head of the Gatna Territorial Community for a comment and is now waiting for a response.
The memorial complex will occupy an area of 267 hectares of land. The construction of all facilities will last several years, but it is planned to start burying the dead already this year.
"We intend to start the first burials by the end of this year," Yaroslav Starushchenko said in an interview with VVS Ukraine.
"All those buried will have military honors, and their graves will be standardized. We are guided by the same principles as when creating world-famous military cemeteries, such as Arlington Cemetery, Fleury-Devan-Duomont Cemetery, and others in Belgium, Italy, and Canada," explained Yaroslav Starushchenko.
According to his words, burial, maintenance of the memorial complex and all graves will be carried out exclusively at the expense of the state.
"We take full responsibility for the families of the victims so that they can feel at peace, knowing that the graves of their loved ones will be taken care of," he added.
Yaroslav Starushchenko also admitted that many relatives of those killed in the war with Russia, who are buried in their native land, may not agree to the transfer of their graves to the memorial cemetery. However, all of them will also be honored in the memorial.
"A museum complex will be created on the territory of the National Cemetery, where memorial plaques will be installed with the names of all heroes without exception - those who are buried in this cemetery, on their native land, and those whose ashes are scattered over the Dnieper. All without exception", Yaroslav Starushchenko said.
