The court returned to the Ministry of Defence a 40-hectare plot of the Odesa airfield

The court returned to the Ministry of Defence a 40-hectare plot of the Odesa airfield

The Commercial Court of Kyiv satisfied a number of claims from prosecutors and military management bodies to declare illegal and cancel the decision of the Odesa City Council to seize three land plots of the "Shkilnyi" military airfield with a total area of 39.7 hectares. 

This was reported by Ukrinform with reference to the legal unit of the Air Command "South".

"The court recognized as illegal and canceled the decisions of the Odesa City Council, adopted in 2017, regarding the allocation of land plots for the construction of the "Shkilnyi" military airfield area with a total area of 39.7 hectares. Since these decisions were made exceeding the powers granted by law and violated the rights of the state as the owner represented by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine," noted the Air Command "South".

The Ministry of Defence recalled that the court returned to the state the land plots of military town No. 10, located at the "Shkilnyi" military airfield, where fighters are based that perform combat duty to protect the southern air borders of the state. These are also used by aircraft of the SES and Navy.

Last year, according to the Ministry of Defence, six lawsuits from the Ministry of Defense were pending in the courts to recognize as illegal and cancel the decisions of the Odesa City Council regarding the allocation of land plots of the "Shkilnyi" military airfield to communal enterprises for capital construction and to lease to business entities.

On July 22, 30, and 31, 2019, the Commercial Court of the Odesa region satisfied the Ministry of Defence’s claims to ensure the lawsuit, prohibiting local authorities and utility companies from taking any actions regarding the 68-hectare airfield plot. The Military Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern region of Ukraine also joined the consideration of these cases.

In Odesa, on the morning of October 29, 2017, about 40 people in balaclavas allegedly attempted a raider seizure of part of the military object’s territory, which is owned by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.

Later, the police of the Odesa region refuted the statement of the Armed Forces about the seizure of the military object. The police stated that about 40 men in balaclavas were private security guards for builders who had permission from the city authorities to construct a shopping center.

In November 2017, the commander of the unit was held responsible for inaction during the dismantling of the "Shkilnyi" airfield fence, and in December, the Commercial Court of the Odesa region made a decision on the conflict between the military unit and a commercial company concerning a land plot in Odesa near the "Shkilnyi" airfield and obliged the private company to dismantle the fence on the military object’s territory.