The National Military Memorial Cemetery will not harm the environment – Deputy Director

The National War Memorial Cemetery will “cause no harm” to the environment and will be built at a safe distance from the surrounding villages.

About this stated deputy director of the state institution “National Military Memorial Cemetery” Yaroslav Starushchenko in a comment by BBC Ukraine.

According to him, the plot near the village of Gatne, which is not far from Kyiv, is state property. Therefore, the decision to allocate land for a military memorial cemetery was made by the Kyiv Regional Military Administration.

He added that in order to avoid misunderstandings, meetings were held with the public and with the elders of the surrounding villages.

As Starushchenko noted, the crematorium will be built according to European standards and at a sufficient distance from the surrounding villages.

“Any impact on the environment is excluded”, – he claims.

The first burials are planned to begin by the end of this year. They will be fully financed by the state.

Yaroslav Starushchenko said that all defenders without exception will be commemorated on the territory of the memorial cemetery.

“A museum complex will be built on the territory of the National Cemetery, and memorial plaques with the names of all heroes without exception will be installed there. And those who will be buried in this cemetery, and those who are already resting in their small homeland, and you, whose ashes are scattered over Dniprom. Absolutely everyone.” – he said.

We will remind, in 2022 the National Military Memorial Cemetery planned to create in the Lysa Gora tract, however, activists opposed it due to the status of a protected zone.

Later attention shifted to Bykivnia, where the National Historical and Memorial Reserve “Bykivnia Tombs” is already located. However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy never signed the corresponding law.

In August 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers passed the construction project of a memorial cemetery near the village of Gatne, which is not far from Kyiv.

In March 2024, this is the place approved officially.

Later, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs reportedthat the National Military Memorial Cemetery will bury servicemen who defended Ukraine and participated in international peacekeeping operations, veterans of the ATO and OOS, knights of the orders of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, “For Courage”, Princess Olga and “Golden Star”.