“This is a story about the construction project of the Memorial Complex near Kryvyi Rih, based on information obtained in the course of providing legal assistance to the wife of a fallen soldier. In Ukraine, military burials are increasing every day.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
This is a story about the construction project of the Memorial Complex near Kryvyi Rih, based on information obtained in the course of providing legal assistance to the wife of a fallen soldier.
In Ukraine, military burials are increasing every day. The National Memorial Military Cemetery near Kyiv is not the only major military memorial construction project.
On August 21, 2024, the Department of City Infrastructure Development of the Executive Committee of the Kryvorizka City Council concluded a procurement contract for the construction of the Memorial Complex in the sector of honorary burials on part of the land plot intended for the expansion of the “Central” cemetery in the Kryvorizka district of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Expected expenses amount to 80.8 million hryvnias.
On October 4, 2024, the customer of the construction published a notice that the construction of the military memorial will not be carried out. Only the fence, the chapel, the ritual site, the central flagpoles and the paving of the square will be built.
Such a decision was apparently adopted in connection with the receipt of a written disagreement of some of the families of the deceased with the installation of slabs on the graves of their relatives. The families took this step to stop the construction. According to the Department of Infrastructure Development, there were 27 “refusals”, although in reality there were about a hundred of them.
Without their consent, gravestones or anything else cannot be placed on the graves, and therefore the construction project cannot be completed.
A month has passed since the announcement of partial rejection of the project. But on the website of the state procurement company “Prozorro” there were no changes in the construction contract. If the site is to be believed, the Kryvyi Rih City Council is still planning the construction of the entire complex (in particular, the part that was allegedly canceled).
Why are the families of the victims against the construction planned by the Kryvyi Rih City Council:
- Granite
The construction project envisages that the stone elements – tombstones, benches, etc. – will be made of granite from the Tokiv deposit. Previously, “Our Money” wrote that the prices for granite included in the purchase contract are probably overstated.
It is important that the maintenance of burial places and the provision of burial services in Kryvyi Rih is entrusted to the communal enterprise “Ritual Service Plus” of the Kryvyi Rih City Council. The director of the enterprise is Vasiliev Andriy Albertovych. He also owns a 6.5% share in the authorized capital of the enterprise that extracts granite in the Tokivskoye deposit.
- Monument
The construction project provides for the installation of a monument to fallen soldiers at the entrance. Many families of the victims did not like it because it is made of the same granite and is suspiciously similar to the monument to Afghan soldiers, which is already standing in Kryvyi Rih. There were no public discussions about the project.
A creative competition for the creation of the monument was not held.
Representatives of the families of the victims have registered several complaints with the demand to hold a creative competition for a new project of the monument. As a result of active objections, the executive committee announced that a creative competition will be held to create a new monument project (more precisely, it was not even reported by the executive committee – the first to write about it was Oleksandr Vilkul, who does not hold any official positions, but he often speaks on behalf of the local authorities, later local officials reported the same at meetings with the families of the victims).
We wanted to know what the conditions of the competition will be, who can apply for it, and who will evaluate the participants. But when we asked the executive committee of the Kryvorizka City Council, we received the answer that they do not hold a competition, they do not have such powers, because it is a “monument of state importance” – it should be conducted by the Dnipropetrovsk OVA.
In response to the request, Dnipropetrovsk OVA reported that it does not hold and does not plan to hold a competition for the creation of a monument for the Memorial complex.
Meanwhile, the foundation for the monument has already been laid, contrary to the promises of the local authorities.
- Orthodox crosses on graves
The construction project (for which no creative competition was held either) provides for the installation of Orthodox crosses on the graves of fallen soldiers (according to the customer, these are “Cossack crosses”, although they look exactly like Orthodox crosses (rectangular, not square). Although not all , buried in the cemetery, are Christians.
Read also: Why is it important to defend the symbol of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on military graves?
- Lack of inclusiveness
The project does not provide conditions for visiting the Memorial Complex for people with disabilities and limited mobility.
This is unacceptable, given that it is a place that will be visited by friends and relatives of the victims.
- Location of graves
The construction project, as it follows from the published tender documentation, does not take into account the fact that the existing graves in the cemetery are located in an irregular manner – at different distances from each other and in uneven rows.
Exhumation of bodies and reburial are not foreseen by the project. However, beautiful symmetrical rows of graves are provided.
In this case, during the construction of the Memorial, the placement of part of the tombstone crosses will not coincide with the actual placement of the graves.
Two years have passed since the first attempts to implement the project. During this time, the local authorities could not react to any of the listed problems, hoping to ignore them in the end.
The conditional “curator” of the Memorial construction project is Oleksandr Vilkul, the son of acting Yuriy Vilkul, Mayor of Kryvyi Rih.
The decision of the executive committee of the Kryvorizka City Council dated May 2, 2022, No. 263 “On the allocation of the sector of honorable military burials on the plot of land intended for the expansion of the “Central” cemetery, Phase II” was adopted at the request of the Pokrovsk-Terniv RTCC, protocol No. 61 of April 30, 2022 of the meeting under under the leadership of the Chairman of the Defense Council of the city of Kryvyi Rih – the head of the military administration of the city of Kryvyi Rih (this is what Oleksandr Vilkul called himself at that time. Although officially such a position does not exist, and no one gave him the authority).
We hope that the process of creating such an important object for the families of the dead will become more transparent and will really ensure the preservation of historical memory and respect for the dead.
Olga Veretilnyk