Khmeliv Territorial Community

History

The history of the development of the village dates back to the beginning of the 17th century, when these lands were considered borderlands. Both Moscow and Warsaw claimed them. The Polish-Lithuanian principality contributed to the settlement of the border by immigrants from the west and the left bank. The Moscow troops stationed in Putyvlia devastated and destroyed these settlements.

In the middle of 1626, the people of Romny restored the buildings near the Khmelivka River, and a settlement inhabited by free peasants sprang on the right bank of the river.

According to an old legend, the name of the village came from the river. A lot of hops (“khmil” translates as “hop” from Ukrainian – ed.) grew on its banks, hence the name Khmelivka appeared. According to other data, the name came from the Okhmylova settlement that was formed here.

There are mounds of the Scythian era in the community, which are included in the state register of archaeological monuments .

The Khmeliv area is a land of hospitable people. It is proud of its picturesque nature reserves and thousand-year-old Scythian mounds, a rich heritage of ancestors shrouded in legends, wisdom and Ukrainian identity.

The community strives to preserve, convey and leave all this to posterity. That is why local residents are implementing the ethnographic project “Heritage of My Land”. They are engaged in summarizing and systematizing information about the antiquity of their native land, life, customs, traditions, and oral folk art. All this is done to make the Khmeliv area, and Ukraine, known to the whole world.

Economy and Welfare

The community is engaged in the development of agriculture: cultivation of grain and technical crops, animal husbandry. Here the land is rich in fertile soils.

The Khmeliv community has a developed infrastructure. It has the Khmeliv Lyceum, a hub educational institution, which has a branch in the village of Hayi. The logistics of schoolchildren and pupils of the preschool unit have been organized here.

Also, a new building for the rural outpatient clinic was built in the community. Employees of the clinic serve 4.5 thousand people.

The Khmeliv psychoneurological boarding school operates on the territory of the village council. It is a home for over 120 wards who permanently live here on full state support. The school employs approximately 90 service personnel employees.

The community has a gas department and a fire station which provide services to the residents of neighboring starosta-headed districts.

In 2012, a water main was built in the village of Khmeliv, gasification was carried out even earlier. The territory has street lighting. The village of Khmeliv has good transport connections – daily buses of regional and regional routes run here. Updated modern high-speed Internet is connected to all social sphere objects and houses of the village residents.

Community and War

On February 24, 2022, the Khmeliv community was one of the first to feel the attack of the enemy. Columns of enemy equipment moved freely through the territory of the population centers. The community was under the occupation of russian troops. Residents of the community spent 10 days in temporary occupation.

During the occupation, the community suffered from looting by the russian military. Shops and gas stations we robbed and gutted and production facilities of private entrepreneurs were significantly affected.

After the deoccupation, the Khmeliv community was one of the first to start receiving families from the frontline and temporarily occupied territories. An Internal Program was adopted, which allowed the community to finance and support internally displaced persons.

Transport and departure of large families from dangerous areas were organized here. Everyone was provided with a place to live, furniture, and necessary household items.

There is a humanitarian aid point for IDPs on the territory of the community in the village of Khmeliv where displaced persons can pick up the necessary items: adult and children’s clothes, children’s books and toys. Local residents of the community also actively help and support people who have been forced to leave their homes and never stay away.

The community provides financial assistance to families with IDP status . Families with children of preschool and school age receive UAH 10,000 for each child.

In the Khmeliv community, conditions have been created for the organization of the educational process under martial law. Video surveillance cameras and technical means of protection were installed in educational institutions with funds from the local budget. To equip the simplest shelter in the Khmeliv Lyceum, the village council allocated UAH 2.5 million from the local budget for the purchase of a protective module. The commissioning of this shelter made it possible for the educational institution to switch to off-line education. 

Volunteer activity of the community is aimed at organizing charity events, cooking homemade goodies for the soldiers of the Armed Forces , making camouflage nets, candles, and creating amulets for our defenders.

People of the Community

Petro Panchenko is the head of the Khmeliv community. He works to attract investments and supports local business and cultural initiatives.

Before the full-scale invasion, children’s playgrounds and street sports simulators were installed on the territory of the community’s population centers with the assistance of the people’s deputy.

The village council constantly promotes the development of sports on the territory of the community. The team of the village of Khmeliv has repeatedly won prizes in district and regional sports competitions.

In 2018, the sports team of the village council took first place in the regional sports competition at the “Best Village of Sumy Region” and participated in the All-Ukrainian sports competition among collective teams of village and settlement councils “Best Sports Village of Ukraine 2018”.

Development Strategy

The main goal of the management team is to create conditions for economic growth, increase the competitiveness of the community, the availability of a wide range of social services and the increase in the welfare of the population.

The priority tasks of the development of the Khmeliv Village Council include:

– creation of a positive investment image of the community;

– attracting international financial and technical assistance, private investments for the implementation of infrastructure and social projects;

– rational use of energy resources in the budgetary sphere and housing and communal economy;

-further development of social and transport infrastructure of the community;

– preserving existing and promoting the creation of new industries;

etc.

The main principle is to focus the joint efforts of the authorities and the community on priority issues of community development based on legality, efficiency and expediency.

List of Sources

• Official website of the Khmeliv Territorial Community
• Facebook page of the Khmeliv Territorial Community:
• Official website of the Department of Education, Culture, Tourism, Youth and Sports of the Khmeliv Territorial Community
• Romny 24 website
• Facebook page
• Wikipedia