Historic hill in Kyiv under threat as disputed construction continues

While the country is busy dealing with military and economic challenges, a truck in Kyiv is freely hauling sand up to the top of a historic hill while tractor spreads it around.

This all is happening on Yurkovytsya, one of the hills Kyiv was founded on in the Middle Ages. Even though the territory is protected as a national historic site, thus forbidding construction there, private homes continue to be built on the crest.

"Here you see the cynical destruction of one the most ancient places in the world," activist Olena Yeskina says. "These are our legendary Kyiv hills, without which it is impossible to imagine our city."

A member of Kyivske Viche, a group that lobbies protection of Kyiv's historic sites, Yeskina says that the illegal construction on Yurkovytsya hill in the Lukyanivka neighborhood started soon after City Hall under former Mayor Leonid Chernovetskiy allocated several land plots on Otto Shmidt Street to private individuals in 2010.

Instead of putting up a kiosk, as stated in the title documents, one individual increased the officially allotted size of the plot from 10 to 30 acres and built a beige two-storey house with a cellar and an attic. His neighbor, meanwhile, erected a yellow colored two-storey mansion complete with a spire and surrounded it with a brick three-meter high wall. He also allegedly planned to seize more land, but activists prevented him. Both owners have denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, archeologists have unearthed numerous artifacts there dating back centuries, including the Stone Age. A wooden cross mounted on the peak of the hill marks an old cemetery.

Luxurious houses have been built on Yurkovytsya hill, despite the legal ban on any construction activity here. Pavlo Podufalov

In 2012 activists managed to stop further construction on Yurkovytsya hill. However, on Nov. 3, when Yeskina and her colleagues came to monitor the situation, they saw a new fence and construction vehicles working inside. They were bringing in and smoothing out a mixture of sand and clay to enlarge a leveled area on the slope. Seeing the activists, a man came out from the house nearby and threatened them.

"When I asked him to introduce himself," Yeskina said, "He just turned around and hit me so hard that I flew several meters."

A video on Podil TV YouTube channel shows episodes of the Nov. 3 accident on Yurkovytsya hill when an unknown man hit Yeskina, an activist, after she asked him to introduce himself.

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Historic hill in Kyiv under threat as disputed construction continues