The legal battle for the Osokorky meadows: developers versus environmental defenders

LLC "Kontaktbudservice", which is part of the businesswoman Vladyslava Molchanova’s orbit (in the collage), is attempting to legally challenge the Kyiv City Council’s 2019 decision to establish the "Osokorky Meadows" reserve (area - approximately 148 hectares). The company claims that the protected status of this territory does not allow them to "extend" a road to the residential complex "H2O", which this LLC plans to build on adjacent plots totaling 176 hectares. Opposing such a lawsuit, Kyiv environmentalists are active. They note that the reserve is necessary for preserving hundreds of species of Red Book animals and plants. Moreover, public activists point out the impracticality of spending hundreds of millions of hryvnias from the city budget on the road, as it is essentially a "dead end" or "appendix". Additionally, some experts believe that developers might have their eyes on the undeveloped plots of the reserve, some of which were nearly lost to the Kyiv community recently.

As KV has learned, a legal process has begun through which LLC "Kontaktbudservice" is trying to cancel the protected status of 148 hectares of land in the Darnytskyi district.

At the end of 2024, that company filed a lawsuit with the Kyiv District Administrative Court (KDAC) to declare the Kyiv City Council decision No. 522/7178 of April 11, 2019, on the announcement of the natural area as a landscape reserve of local importance "Osokorky Meadows", as well as the order of the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) No. 384 from April 30, 2024, which approved the Regulations on the aforementioned reserve, invalid.

On December 30, 2024, the KDAC opened proceedings in this case. On February 24 of the current year, the first court session took place, during which a number of environmental organizations tried to join the case as third parties on the side of the defendants - the Kyiv City Council and the Kyiv City Military Administration (KCMA). However, they were unable to achieve this from Judge Albina Perepelitsa - one of the activists, Oksana Burgun, was denied her application, and soon after, the session was postponed. Its continuation is scheduled for March 31, 2025.

Plaintiff’s arguments

In the lawsuit, LLC "Kontaktbudservice" notes that the city council’s decision to establish the reserve "hinders" the city’s future development of a major road from Petro Hryhorenko Avenue in the Darnytskyi district to the borders of Kyiv. This transport artery is necessary for the plaintiff company, as it will serve as access to the residential buildings that "Kontaktbudservice" intends to build on the adjacent territory. We are talking about the development of 5 land plots in the Osokorky-Central residential area, totaling 176.06 hectares, which the LLC leased from the capital’s community back in 2005 under appropriate agreements.

Thus, in "Kontaktbudservice" they clarified that the construction of the mentioned road was provided for by the Detailed Territorial Plan of the Osokorky district, which was approved by decision No.695/2764 on November 27, 2009. At the same time, according to the decision to establish the reserve, the latter is superimposed on the red lines defined by the DTP, according to which the construction of the road is provided. At the same time, the company hinted that the city authorities allegedly did not give up the idea of building the mentioned road - for example, by order of KCSA No. 2277 of November 3, 2021, it was provided that these works are to be carried out in 2021-2025, and their customer was determined to be the Public Utility Enterprise "Directorate for Construction of Road Transport Facilities". Also, the company noted that the position of the red lines can be changed, but for this, the City Council needs to make changes to the mentioned DTP.

Moreover, the lawsuit states that LLC "Kontaktbudservice" already has a "portfolio" of documents needed for carrying out construction works on the adjacent territory, particularly - city planning conditions and limitations (CPCL) from the Department of Urban Development and Architecture of KCSA, which were issued in 2014, and a construction permit from the State Architectural and Construction Inspection (SACI), which the company received in 2018.

"Given the strategic importance of the land plots [of the reserve], the issue of their legal status becomes critical for the implementation of the infrastructure project for building the road. Creating a reserve on these plots establishes a special protection regime and usage restrictions of the nature reserve fund’s lands, making any types of development impossible, including infrastructure projects that include transport facilities, and paralyzes the implementation of the stated project," the LLC "Kontaktbudservice" stated in the lawsuit.

Additionally, the lawsuit claims that SE "Kyivzelenbud" has already signed a contract for the development of land management projects for establishing the boundaries of the "Osokorky Meadows" reserve (this happened on July 22, 2024, the contractor was determined to be LLC "Demetra Plus", the cost of works - 4.5 million hryvnias. - Ed.). At the same time, the company noted that this contract provides for the development of land management projects for plots with a total area of 152 hectares, while the Kyiv City Council decision on the creation of the reserve specifies an area of 148 hectares.

"Thus, the exact boundaries and area of the reserve, in the absence of land management documentation on organizing and establishing the boundaries of the natural reserve fund territory, are not specified, which is also a violation of the Law of Ukraine ’On the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine,’ as the boundaries of the territories and objects of the nature reserve fund are established on the ground according to the legislation. Until the boundaries of the territories and objects of the nature reserve fund are established on the ground, their boundaries are determined according to the projects of creating the territories and objects of the nature reserve fund," the lawsuit states.

Among other things, "Kontaktbudservice" accused the Kyiv City Council of not notifying the company about the decision to create the reserve, although, according to the requirements of Ukrainian legislation, it had to do so, as the LLC is an "interested party". Moreover, allegedly, the company did not receive a copy of the Kyiv City Council decision on creating the reserve, was not summoned to the city council’s plenary session, and therefore "LLC ’Kontaktbudservice’ was not aware of the illegal decision’s adoption."

Public position

According to media reports, currently, their statements for joining the case as third parties on the side of the Kyiv City Council have been submitted by public organizations (NGO) "Ecopark Osokorky" and "Svarozhychi", the Charitable Organization "Dnipro District of Kyiv Charitable Fund ’Kyiv Ecologo-Cultural Center’" (CO "KECC"), as well as several individuals - public activists. However, as noted above, their participation in this legal dispute is still under question.

In the NGO "Ecopark Osokorky" they openly accuse the Kyiv authorities of assisting the developer. Thus, the organization notes that the mentioned road is an "absolute dead end", as it does not connect with any existing capital’s highway, and nobody plans to extend it beyond the city limits for now. Moreover, the NGO assumes that even if this happens in the future, the six lanes of Petrov Hryhorenko Avenue simply cannot be connected to the narrow two-lane streets in the village of Vyshenky in the Boryspil district, which adjoins the capital in the specified area.

"The cost of road construction is still unknown, although similar projects in the past cost billions. For instance, 1.8 km of the Great Ring Road in 2018 cost the city 1.3 billion hryvnias. How much will it cost to lay the road on Hryhorenko Avenue? The authorities do not provide an answer. But it is evidently built in the interests of the developer. At the expense of our taxes, Klitschko practically gives a road to his friend Vladyslava Molchanova (LLC "Kontaktbudservice" is part of this businesswoman’s orbit, as will be discussed further. - Ed.) and destroys a unique area inhabited by over 100 species of birds, 28 of which are protected by the Bern Convention," reports the Facebook page of NGO "Ecopark Osokorky".

Moreover, the public organization drew attention to a significant fact: at the "last" court session, only the lawyer of the Department of Environmental Protection and Climate Adaptation of KCSA represented the city authorities, while there were no representatives from the Kyiv City Council, which is a defendant.

In turn, lawyer and human rights activist Oleksandr Dyadyuk, who represented the interests of CO "KECC" in court, told journalists about the strange behavior of Judge Albina Perepelitsa. So, according to him, this servant of Themis practically "kicked out" the activists, not giving them a word. Although, in his conviction, the judge needed to listen to the public, as this matter is of significant public interest.

At the same time, Oleksandr Dyadyuk assumes that the "Kontaktbudservice" lawsuit may actually not aim for the city government to build a road on this territory, but rather for businessmen from this company’s orbit to later obtain undeveloped plots of this reserve. Because if this territory does not have a protected status, it can be "distributed", for example, for the same residential development. In particular, according to the lawyer, perhaps the attention is on the scandalous 74.4 hectares of land once registered by LLC "Agrofirm "Zodiac" and later returned to Kyiv’s community ownership.

"I am an old lawyer. I have hundreds of cases under my belt, if not more than a thousand. Usually, when you file a third-party claim, judges let you speak and explain why it is necessary. But this judge (Perepelitsa. - Ed.) categorically prohibits it. Also, I am outraged that roads are "extended" to the "friends" of the city authorities at the budget’s cost. This is a road to Molchanova’s construction site. And it will be a "road to nowhere", or "appendix road", as it hits the fields. The road is actually planned to be laid under the reserve, not through it. It doesn’t interfere with anyone. But the reserve occupies free lands, of which there are very few left in Kyiv. Perhaps Molchanova has an interest in them. Understand that without construction, whole 148 hectares of land "wander around"!" - Oleksandr Dyadyuk told.

About the reserve

The decision on the announcement of 148 hectares of land on Osokorky as a landscape reserve was made by the Kyiv City Council at the initiative of a group of deputies from different political forces - back on February 4, 2019, seven people’s deputies registered the corresponding draft decision, which, as noted above, was approved on April 11 of the same year.

In reasoning such an idea, the deputies pointed out that the authorities must protect this territory, as it "represents water, near-water, meadow-marsh vegetation with a rich species composition of animals and plants listed in the Red Book of Ukraine". In particular, it mentioned plants such as lesser duckweed and trifid duckweed, ordinary duckweed and floating Salvinia, various Red Book insects (swallowtail, bright bumblebee, blue ribbon, musk beetle), as well as animals protected by the Bern Convention (gray toad, tree frog, red-bellied toad, common adder, nimble lizard).

Additionally, the draft decision stated that the then "potential" reserve is of great importance for birds, as their migration corridor passes through it. At the same time, it was clarified that according to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals ratified by Ukraine, our country has committed to promoting the protection of migratory species and preserving the habitats necessary for them.

The reasoning for creating the landscape reserve "Osokorky Meadows" was developed by scientists from the International Charitable Organization "Ecology - Law - People", leading specialists of the Department of Ecology and Zoology of the NNC "Institute of Biology and Medicine" of the Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, and employees of the Department of Geobotany and Ecology of the Department of Geobotany and Ecology of the M.G. Kholodnyi Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

When adopting this project decision, it was foreseen that the public utility association (PUA) "Kyivzelenbud" would "monitor" the reserve - in particular, the city council assigned it to draw up a protection obligation to ensure the protection and conservation regime of the said object.

Further, on November 9, 2023, the capital’s city council with decision No. 7303/7344 amended the decision on the creation of the "Osokorky Meadows" reserve - instead of "Kyivzelenbud" it was instructed to protect its territory by the Public Utility Enterprise for Maintenance of Green Spaces of the Darnytskyi District, which is part of the aforementioned municipal association. The necessity of such permutations was explained by the fact that the association itself does not have the technical and material resources to fulfill the security obligations, but the appropriate PUE does.

Only five years after the creation of the reserve "on paper", on April 30, 2024, the KCSA by the aforementioned order No. 384 approved the Regulations on this object. This document, in addition to containing a number of statements about the necessity of protecting this territory, included clear points regarding the direct security regime. Thus, the document prohibited any construction on the lands of the reserve (except for the construction of hydrotechnical structures and the laying of new and repairing of existing engineering networks to meet the needs of defence and national security of Ukraine), burning dry vegetation, hunting, waste disposal, sewage discharge, etc. (a total of 28 restrictive points).

Context

The development of the 176 hectares of land mentioned in the above lawsuit was planned at the beginning of the 2000s. At that time, such intentions were held by the bank "Arkada" - a well-known financial institution and developer that built more than five hundred buildings with 80,000 apartments (mostly in Kyiv, but there were projects in other cities). At that time, LLC "Kontaktbudservice" was in the orbit of this bank. The residential complex to be built on Osokorky-Central was to be named "Patriotika on the Lakes".

In 2014-2018, while "Kontaktbudservice" was collecting "construction permits", the Osokorky community began actively opposing the construction of the said complex. Local residents appealed to the city authorities with demands for the creation of a natural landscape park on the land leased by "Kontaktbudservice", or as it is called "Eco-Park "Osokorky" (in total, its territory was to include almost six hundred hectares - both the mentioned 176 hectares and adjacent plots). In the city council then preliminarily supported the corresponding petition of public activists - deputies created a working group that was to work out this issue.

However, later the city authorities did everything to nullify the process of creating this protected area: this issue was discussed dozens of times within the walls of the Kyiv City Council and KCSA, city administration officials publicly agreed that this eco-park was needed but pointed out that they could do nothing since the developers allegedly had all the necessary documents to implement their plans.

However, the construction of the "Patriotika on the Lakes" never started, and in 2018-2019 "Arkada" began "dying from within" - then the media reported that bank officials were diverting investors’ funds from the construction financing funds. To "calm" the public dissatisfied with all these problems, the capital’s authorities made a step that was supposed to stabilize the conflict. However, it didn’t significantly impact the situation.

Thus, on January 31, 2019, the Kyiv City Council decision No.3/6659 terminated the lease agreements of plots with "Kontaktbudservice". The corresponding initiative was proposed by the Mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klychko, who in an explanatory note to the draft decision noted that the company owes more than 73 million hryvnias to the city budget for rental payments and has not developed the mentioned land on time (the document did not specify which, but the "standard" period is 3 years. - Ed.).

Soon after, the construction of "Patriotika on the Lakes", as well as the completion of two more residential complexes from "Arkada" - "Evrika", "Patriotika", and "Patriotika on the Lakes" - was taken over by the developer "Stolitsa Group". Thus, in April 2021, a "Memorandum on the Resolution of Social Issues on the Completion of Construction and Handover of Apartments to Investors in the Mentioned Residential Complexes was signed. Twelve parties signed it: the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, the SSU, the Deposit Guarantee Fund for Individuals, KCSA, LLC "Stolitsa Group", representatives of investors, etc.

The mentioned document described the rights and obligations of authorities, new developers, investors, etc. In reality, its essence was simple. It boiled down to the fact that LLC "Stolitsa Group" must complete the buildings in "Evrika" and "Patriotika" housing complexes and hand over apartments to the affected investors. But the main thing was the following. According to the memorandum, one of the sources of funding for these works, along with state crediting and funds from "Arkada" structures, should be the development by the new developer of 176 hectares of land leased by LLC "Kontaktbudservice" - in other words, at the expense of the "Patriotika on the Lakes", in which apartments were purchased by only a few hundred families.

Incidentally, the document immediately noted that "Patriotika on the Lakes" could change its name. Eventually, it happened: in the summer of 2021, it became known that "Stolitsa Group" was planning to build "H20" housing complex in its place. Moreover, according to media reports, the number of buildings in the "new-old" complex could grow compared to "Patriotika on the Lakes" - from 43 to 48. By the way, according to open sources, currently, only 2 buildings are being built in this housing complex.

In turn, according to the memorandum, the city authorities, represented by the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA), undertook the obligation to finance the construction of engineering, transport, and social infrastructure facilities for this residential complex. Moreover, according to this document, the city administration is to consider the issue of setting a minimum rental fee for the plots under the “Patriotika” and “Patriotika on the Lakes” residential complexes (RC "H20") until the construction is fully completed, take measures to extend the lease of plots with a total area of 176 hectares, and, among other things, work on the issue of creating an eco-park on the territories adjacent to the “Patriotika on the Lakes” residential complex at the expense of the city budget.

The situation surrounding the mentioned memorandum in Kyiv has caused a predominantly negative effect—primarily among eco-activists. Thus, in the NGO “Ecopark Osokorky,” after signing this document, protests continued against the construction of residential high-rises in Osokorky, in part because they would require the partial filling of the Nebrezh Lake. At the same time, activists directly accused city authorities of handing over such a large area for development due to the desire to receive “kickbacks.”

Furthermore, there were complaints from the investors of the "former" “Patriotika on the Lakes” residential complex against the "new" developers. In the fall of 2023, buyers of property rights in this complex stated that they were dissatisfied with "Stolitsa Group" requiring them to pay additionally for square meters of already purchased apartments. According to them, they faced this after the project of this residential complex was changed and when it got a new name—“H2O.” The statement did not specify which project change was being referred to. Additionally, investors were dissatisfied with the pace of construction of the residential complex—mentioning that two and a half years after the signing of the aforementioned memorandum, not a single building had been commissioned. In connection with this, buyers of the “future” apartments, among other actions, have appealed to law enforcement authorities.

Simultaneously, LLC "Kontaktbudservis" is trying to return the leased 176 hectares of land through legal proceedings, but so far the company has not had significant success. Moreover, even if the actions of the city authorities were declared illegal, the developer would again have to “convince” the Kyiv City Council to “retransfer” these plots for lease—back in 2005, they were allocated by the city council for a term until 2020. At the end of 2024, a project decision to renew these lease agreements for another 5 years was already presented to the Kyiv City Council, but it was postponed due to the position of the public and a number of deputies. One of the reasons was that, according to the project materials, LLC "Kontaktbudservis" has a debt on rental payments to the Kyiv budget amounting to almost 140 million UAH, which it has to repay only after the adoption of this document.

Regarding the road on Petro Hryhorenko Ave., back in December 2022, an agreement was concluded between the municipal enterprise "Directorate for the Construction of Road and Transport Structures" and LLC "Dortrans" for the design of this highway (the cost of the work is 69.3 million UAH). Meanwhile, the public in the capital opposes the implementation of such an infrastructure project. For instance, in December 2023, when the Kyiv City Council tried to approve the city’s target program for the development of transport infrastructure for 2024–2025, activists from the NGO “Ecopark Osokorky” petitioned the deputies to exclude these works from the corresponding project decision. In particular, they proposed considering alternative routes for road construction.

Whose interests

According to the analytical system Youcontrol, the capital’s LLC “Kontaktbudservis” was registered in June 2004. Its director is Eduard Kyrylenko, and the founder is LLC “Invest System Group”, with the ultimate beneficiary being Kyiv resident Yuliya Kharchenko. As reported by KV, the latter is part of the circle of the aforementioned Vladyslava Molchanova, co-owner of the same “Stolitsa Group” and Novus store chain. Previously, Molchanova was named as the key financial donor of the capital office of the Batkivshchyna party.

“Stolitsa Group” is one of the largest active developers in Kyiv. Companies in the orbit of this group have hundreds of hectares of land at their disposal, and the implementation of their construction projects is often accompanied by scandals. A significant part of “Stolitsa Group” projects were and are being built in the Vinogradar district of Kyiv—based on investment agreements signed with SE "ND VA Puscha-Vodytsia." In particular, this is how residential complexes “Warsaw,” “Warsaw-2,” “Warsaw-3,” and “Warsaw Plus” are being constructed in this area.

Law enforcement agencies, various state structures, and the capital’s public have many claims against these projects. For example, the National Police reported possible illegal alienation of the mentioned plots, and the fact that the land received by the “Stolitsa Group” companies for construction is much more expensive than the number of apartments these economic entities “promised” to the agro-combine as payment for investment agreements. As a result, the state enterprise could have incurred losses—it was preliminarily stated as an attempt to bring it to bankruptcy. Numerous court disputes are currently underway to challenge these agreements, as they may have been signed in violation of legislation—such as without approval from the Cabinet of Ministers.

The Department of Land Resources of the KCSA has been headed by Valentyna Pelykh since June 29, 2021 (she was acting head of this structure from April 2, 2021). From July 27, 2018, to April 1, 2021, this department was headed by Petro Olenych, who, since April 2, 2021, has been the deputy head of the KCSA and oversees land and urban planning issues in Kyiv.

The Department of Environmental Protection and Climate Change Adaptation of the KCSA (until June 2023—the Ecology and Natural Resources Department) has been headed by Oleksandr Voznyi since January 11, 2021. From July 26, 2018, to May 21, 2020, this structure was headed by Andriy Malyovanyi. After Malyovanyi’s dismissal and until Voznyi’s appointment, the duties of the head of the mentioned structural unit of the KCSA were performed by Oleksandr Savchenko.

The field of ecology in the capital has been overseen by KCSA Deputy Head Petro Panteleyev for almost a decade.

Author: Ivan Kulyk