Video: A scandal has erupted in Kyiv over the repair of sidewalks instead of school shelters

A debate has erupted in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi District over the use of budget funds during the war. Education expert and civic activist Ivanna Kobernik drew attention to the large-scale repair of sidewalks along Holosiivskyi Avenue, which is taking place while the construction of school shelters has been suspended.

 

According to Kobernik, four schools—Nos. 179, 186, 85, and 15—are located just 100–200 meters from the section currently under repair. However, only School No. 179 has a shelter that allows elementary school students to attend classes as usual and enables upper-grade students to attend in-person classes several days a week. The situation at the other schools is critical. In particular, last year the Kyiv City Council allocated funds to School No. 186 for the construction of a “dual-purpose shelter with anti-radiation protection” (the so-called “underground school”). Currently, the site near the school has been cleared, a half-finished concrete structure has been left behind, and no work has been carried out there for many months.

In total, construction began on three such shelters in the Holosiivskyi District (including near Schools No. 130 and No. 236), costing hundreds of millions of hryvnias from the city budget. All three facilities currently remain unfinished, and students have also lost access to their schoolyards.

Due to the lack of safe shelters, most schools are forced to operate remotely. This creates significant problems for parents: Kobernik reported that during school hours, there were as many as seven elementary-aged children at one of the district’s municipal clinics. These were the children of doctors and nurses, whom their mothers are forced to bring to work because they have no one to leave them with at home.

The expert also pointed out that Kyiv has not submitted a single application for a state subsidy to equip school shelters and build bomb shelters, even though other regions—specifically Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Rivne Oblasts—have successfully received these funds. At the same time, according to Kobernik, the State Treasury has currently halted all expenditures not related to the most essential needs for preparing for winter, which means that the torn-up asphalt and mountains of tiles will remain there for a long time to come.

“I do not participate in political life and am not affiliated with any political party. But if city officials continue to justify their right to neglect education and fail to do what they’re supposed to do, I will publish the figures, and I don’t know who will use them or how. Stop making excuses that everything is fine. Start saying what you’re actually doing,” concluded Ivanna Kobernyk.

Earlier in Kyiv, city workers removed the glass from the controversial bus stop in Lukyanivka.

Meanwhile, Klitschko stated that Kyiv will implement its resilience plan by December.

Against this backdrop, Kyiv has ordered powerful generators to keep the water utility running during power outages.