Shmigal: 6,000 places have been prepared for burials at the National Military Cemetery

Prime Minister Denis Shmigal announced the completion of the construction of the first starting complex of the first stage of the National Military Memorial Cemetery.

For burials, he said, they prepared six thousand places.

“The first burials will begin here in the near future. The construction of the second starting complex continues. There is a lot of work ahead, ”the head of the government wrote in the telegram on July 2, following the meeting on the implementation of the project of the National Military Memorial Cemetery.

The meeting, according to the Prime Minister, was attended by government representatives, the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, Veterans and Public Organizations, historians and families of the dead.

Last year, the government officially determined the location of the National Military Cemetery in two plots in the Gatnen community of Fastiv district of Kyiv region.

The Verkhovna Rada approved the law on the establishment of a National Military Memorial Cemetery in May 2022. Since then, the search for the site has begun. The families of the victims were offered at least 5 potential places for the construction of the cemetery – from the city center to the capital to the Kyiv region.

The relatives arranged the construction of the authorities in Bykivna, but the government changed the site. On December 8, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada voted in favor of Bill No. 10289, necessary for the construction and operation of the National Military Memorial Cemetery. The new place of construction of the cemetery was the village of Gatne. However, some families of fallen servicemen did not agree to the construction of a national military memorial cemetery in the Gatnen community in the Kyiv region.

The authorities of Ukraine for a long time did not voice losses in the war, stating that the data would be disclosed after its completion. At the same time, on February 16, 2025, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with NBC News that since February 2022, Ukraine lost more than 46,000 soldiers and about 380,000 in the war.