The Office of the Prosecutor General is attempting to reclaim the ancient Rus settlement for state ownership, but so far without success
Legal battles over the development of the Kytayivskyi tract have entered a new phase: last week, the Northern Appeal Court revisited the case concerning one of the two plots located within the territory of the ancient Rus settlement identified with the historic Peresichne.
What kind of expertise the developer wants to conduct and why heritage protectors oppose it – read in the new article from Kashtan NEWS.
Historical background
The Kytayiv archaeological complex, situated in the eastern part of Holosiivskyi Forest, consists of the remains of a fortified settlement (fortress) from the times of Kyivan Rus, a burial mound cemetery, the caves of the Kytayiv Desert, and two settlements – the earliest finds at one of them date back to the third millennium BC.
3 Archaeological research in Kytayiv began as early as the 19th century. Since 1965, the complex has been under state protection, as confirmed by a resolution from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on September 3, 2009, which recognized Kytayiv as a national archaeological monument.
However, since 2004, part of the complex has been leased to the open joint-stock company "Kyiv Vegetable Factory." This concerns two plots, measuring 4.82 hectares and 21.61 hectares, where the remnants of the Kytayiv settlement are located – the very one that is at least five thousand years old. In addition to items from the Late Trypillia culture (3200–2800 BC), objects from the Kyivan Rus period and the Lithuanian period (14th–15th centuries) have been found on the territory of the Kytayiv settlement.
4 Nevertheless, this did not prevent the Kyiv City Council from not only leasing this protected area to a private company but also, over time, changing the intended use of both plots – from "agricultural production" (as would be appropriate for a vegetable factory) to "construction and maintenance of public and commercial facilities." In other words, a national archaeological monument was handed over for the development of residential complexes and shopping centers.
Consequently, in recent years, the tenant represented by the "Kyiv Vegetable Factory" has been trying to realize their dream of construction by entering into agreements with various developers. Currently, the partner in their development dreams is the LLC "Modern Real Estate," which, like previous partners of the "vegetable factory," is linked to Ihor Nikov, the first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration in 2014-2015.
Court cases and petitions
In September 2023, the Office of the Prosecutor General filed two lawsuits demanding the annulment of the lease agreements for the plots and the removal of the Kyiv community's right to dispose of one of them (21.61 hectares). However, at the beginning of this year, the Economic Court rejected both claims. The court's reasoning for the denial was that, in its opinion, the boundaries of the archaeological monument "Kytayiv settlement and burial mound cemetery" have not yet been determined.
In May, a hearing in the case regarding the 21.51-hectare plot took place in the appellate court. The court appointed a comprehensive examination, which is to include both land-technical and historical-archaeological studies to determine whether the plot has historical and cultural value.
5 Approximately simultaneously, a petition demanding the protection of the Kytayiv reserve from development gained the necessary number of votes on the Kyiv City Council website. However, it faced the fate of almost all appeals supported by Kyiv residents: on May 23, Klitschko rejected the petition, citing that its practical implementation would depend on whether the Kyiv City Council wished to renew the lease agreements with the "Kyiv Vegetable Factory."
The Kyiv City Council seemed to wish to do so: almost simultaneously with Klitschko's response, projects regarding the renewal of the lease for both plots appeared on its website. However, due to significant public outcry, these projects never made it to the agenda (although this did not prevent deputies from later renewing lease agreements on three adjacent plots – in the Samburky and Bolharske tracts).
Meanwhile, the legal battle over the two plots in the Kytayiv tract continued. In September, the Kharkiv Institute of Forensic Examinations named after M. Bokarius, which was to conduct the comprehensive examination of the territory, informed the court that it did not have qualified personnel for conducting historical-archaeological examinations. Consequently, a motion was filed to change the type of examination to a land-technical examination and a land management examination – without the historical-archaeological component.
6 As noted by members of the public initiative "Protect Kytayiv," this motion is an attempt by the developer to deliberately prolong a case that has already lasted more than a year. At the same time, the land examination has no relevance to the substance of the case, as the subject of the dispute is the historical-archaeological value of the plots.
“The purpose of the land examination in an archaeological case is as relevant as a guinea pig to the sea. Our position is clear – no additional examinations should be appointed, as all evidence of the existence and boundaries of the Kytayiv settlement is present in the case: explanations from the relevant Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Institute of Geography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, testimonies from leading licensed specialists in archaeology, specialized reports on archaeological research,” – states the initiative "Protect Kytayiv."
7 Moreover, activists dispute that the Bokarius Institute lacks specialists capable of conducting historical-archaeological examinations. To prove this, activists cited a response from the Kyiv branch of the Institute, which states that the branch conducts forensic examinations in the specialty 19.1 "Historical-archaeological research." Additionally, the Register of Certified Forensic Experts of the Ministry of Justice lists three experts in this specialty, two of whom (Denys Hrechko and Vsevolod Ivakin) work at the Kyiv branch of the Bokarius Institute.
What the court decided
The consideration of the motion to change the type of examination took place on November 19. Representatives of LLC "Modern Real Estate," which is involved in the lawsuit of the Deputy Prosecutor General and the Ministry of Culture against the Kyiv City Council and LLC "Kyiv Vegetable Factory" as a third party on the side of the respondent, did not appear at the court session.
As a result, the panel of judges, led by Alla Tyshchenko, made a decision that was "neither here nor there." On one hand, the request to conduct exclusively a land examination, without investigating archaeology, was denied. On the other hand, the court, contrary to the plaintiff's position, acknowledged the necessity of an examination as such and extended its duration by another 90 days.
8 At the same time, the judges promised to allow the Kharkiv Institute of Bokarius to involve specialists for the historical-archaeological examination from their Kyiv branch.
During the examination, the proceedings in the case have been suspended. Kashtan NEWS will continue to monitor the further developments.
Konstantin MYKHAILENKO