Court Orders City Hall to Enter into Security Agreement for One of Odesa's Oldest Cemeteries

The Odesa District Administrative Court fully satisfied the prosecutor's office's claim and ordered the Odesa City Council to conclude a protection agreement for the Kuyalnytsia Cemetery, a local cultural heritage site.

This was reported by the press service of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office.

The Suvorov District Prosecutor's Office of Odesa filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit concerned the conclusion of a protection agreement for the cultural heritage site of local significance - Kuyalnytsia Cemetery, located on Khadzhibeyska Road in Odesa.

Despite the inclusion of the cemetery in the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine, the Odesa City Council did not ensure the conclusion of the relevant agreement.

Kuyalnyk Cemetery is an old inactive cemetery of the former village of Kuyalnyk, the burial place of the Cossacks of the Sotnykivska Sich. It is now located within the city of Odesa, along Khadzhibeyska Road, on the slopes of Shkodova Hill.

The preserved area is 0.16 hectares, with the last burial in 1965. The cemetery has about 205 ancient tombstones carved from a solid block of limestone, with inscriptions on 33 crosses.

On April 4, 2017, the Institute of National Memory supported the initiative of Odesa activists to grant the cemetery the status of a national monument. It requires approval from the Ministry of Culture and the Odesa Regional State Administration. In April 2021, the Ministry of Culture included Kuyalnytsia Cemetery in the State Register of Immovable Monuments.

In particular, in her issue, Yaryna Paslavska visited the Kuyalnytsia cemetery, cemeteries in Usatove and Nerubaiske, cemeteries in Nova Kovalivka, Adamivka, Prymorske, Hlyboke, Pivdenne, and Sychavets.

In May, Lviv-based journalist, writer, and blogger Yaryna Paslavska traveled to old Cossack cemeteries in Odesa Oblast to demonstrate that the history of the region is inextricably linked to the history of Ukraine and the Cossacks themselves.

Кирило Бойко