Kharkiv has reclaimed ownership of land that had been leased by the diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
The Kharkiv City Council terminated the land lease agreement with the diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) ahead of schedule. More than three hectares of land have been returned to the city, including Soborny Square, the area with the diocese building, and a plot containing an energy facility.
City council officials stated that they plan to renovate Soborny Square, as it is currently in poor condition.
In Kharkiv, the land lease agreement with the diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) has been terminated. City council members adopted the corresponding decision during an extraordinary session of the city council. Following the termination of the agreement, more than three hectares of land in the city center were returned to the community. This territory includes Soborny Square, a plot containing a power facility, and the area where the building of the Kharkiv Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) is located.
According to Mayor Ihor Terekhov, the lease agreement was signed back in 2008. At that time, the land plot at 8/10 Universytetska Street was transferred to the diocese for use for nearly half a century—until 2057. That decision has now been revoked. “At an extraordinary session of the city council, a resolution was passed to terminate the lease agreement, and the specified territory has been returned to the city’s control,” the city council reported.
Plans to Renovate Soborny Square
Following the return of the land, the city plans to begin renovating Soborny Square. According to Igor Terekhov, this green space is currently in worse condition than most other parks and squares in Kharkiv. “Today, the square is not in proper condition, unlike other green spaces in Kharkiv, so it needs to be renovated. This is the central part of the city, and we need to put things in order there. I have already instructed that a corresponding project be developed,” said the mayor.
Land Has Already Been Returned to the Community in Kharkiv
This is not the first time this year that the city has returned land plots that had been leased for a long time to municipal ownership. In the spring, the Kharkiv City Council returned part of the Zhuravlivsky Hydropark to the community, where the paid recreation area “Aquazhur” had operated until the start of the full-scale invasion.
This territory was leased to the company “Kontakt Plus” back in 2008 for a term of 49 years—until 2056. In 2018, the city council had already attempted to terminate the contract through the courts, but the request was denied at that time. According to Igor Terekhov, the lessee failed to meet its financial obligations and did not pay the fees for using the land.
At the same time, according to the public organization “Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center,” the company was linked to business structures owned by former People’s Deputy Dmytro Shentsev of the banned “Party of Regions” and former Kharkiv Regional Council Deputy Davit Chikhladze. This was reported by the Kharkiv City Council.
As a reminder, on the night of July 30, Russian troops carried out one of the largest combined attacks on Ukraine, using more than 70 missiles and over 280 attack drones. Kyiv and the surrounding region, as well as the Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, came under fire.
In Poland, during the massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine on the night of July 30, an air raid alert was issued in part of the Lublin Voivodeship. After the alert ended, a crater approximately 10 meters in diameter and debris from an unidentified object were discovered in a field near the villages of Tarnava-Kolonia and Tokary.
