Unscrupulous real estate developers in Kyiv are quietly bulldozing historical buildings to make way for more profitable projects while the attention of the nation is focused on the war against the Russian invasion, the Kyiv Independent reported.
The bulldozing on July 19 of the Zelensky Manor, the historic dwelling of a wealthy trading family (not connected to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky) in Kyiv, was only the latest of a series of recent demolitions of historical sites, the newspaper said.
Also, in August of last year, the oldest building in the historic Kyiv neighborhood of Podil was demolished, allegedly to make way for the destruction of a clubhouse, according to the report.
Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported earlier that 23 historical buildings have been destroyed in Kyiv since the invasion of February 2022, and only two of them were hit by Russian attacks.
The Politico newspaper covered the same issue on Aug 1, but from the angle of damage to the reputation of Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, the former boxing champion.
"Many complaints focus on his failure to stop ruthless developers from leveling the city’s heritage," the newspaper said, "and on his administration’s alleged involvement with major infrastructure problems like cracking metro tunnels.
The destruction of historic sites could add a new element to the major reconstruction project set to take off after the war ends. Some, such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), are already preparing to help Ukraine deal with the damage to its cultural heritage.
JICA, which coordinated Japanese government development aid, just last week agreed to discuss various projects with the Ukrainian government to help restore Ukrainian heritage sites.
