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Bobrovytsia Territorial Community
Chernihiv
Population:
The Bobrovytsia urban territorial community is a community in the Nizhyn District, Chernihiv Region which was formed on May 19, 2017. The community includes the town of Bobrovytsia and 40 population centers (18 Starosta-headed districts). The administrative center is the town of Bobrovytsia located on the banks of the Bystrytsia River. The town was founded in the 11th century. The area of the united community is 1,054.8 square kilometers.
The number of residents is 23,989 people.
Men: 45%.
Women: 55%.
Internally displaced persons: 2,328
History
There is no reliable information about the origin of the name of the town of Bobrovytsia. There are only guesses that the settlement got its name from the beaver cropping (Ukr. “bober” translates as “beaver”) that its inhabitants of that time were engaged in in the reservoirs of the Bystrytsia, Trubezh, and Oster rivers. The Bystrytsia River was called Bobrovnytsia until the middle of the 19th century. The successful location of the town on the banks of a full-flowing river determined its strategic importance over other settlements. The remains of the settlement (11-13 centuries) testify to the ancient origin of Bobrovytsia.
In the 16th century, Bobrovytsia was a town of the Ostersky Starostvo of the Kyiv Voivodeship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1654, Bobrovytsia was a sotnia town of the Kyiv regiment, which was reflected on the town’s coat of arms in the form of two crossed sabers. From 1782, the town was the volost center of the Kozelets Povit.
In the early 19th century, the dominant position in Bobrovytsia was occupied by landowners who owned large land holdings. Bobrovytsia landowners set aside ever larger areas for sugar beets. In 1868, a railway station was opened near Bobrovytsia (the only freight station in Kozelets Povit), which led to the rapid development of the town. In November 1920, Bobrovytsia became the center of the Bobrovytsia Povit.
The history of the Bobrovytsia area is closely connected with the name of the world-famous poet and public figure Pavlo Hryhorovych Tychyna. He was born in the village of Pisky. Now there is a historical and memorial museum here. The museum’s holdings include 1,500 exhibits, including personal belongings of Pavlo Tychyna (up to 10 exhibits).
There are unique architectural objects on the territory of the community. The Katerynichs’ Palace is one of the most famous assets of cultural heritage. Petro Katerynych was the owner of sugar and brick factories, a philanthropist, a public figure, and the head of the nobility of the Kozelets Povit. He participated in Taras Shevchenko’s redemption from serfdom.
Economy and Welfare
The main branches of the community’s economy are agriculture, trade, public catering, household services, and forestry. 17 agricultural enterprises and 32 farms operate on the territory of the community. Agricultural enterprises grow grain, oil and fodder crops.
Zemlia i Volia is one of Ukraine’s most powerful agricultural producers of corn and grain crops. The company has its own drying complex, elevator, compound feed plant. The community has an attractive investment climate and available free space for residential and industrial development.
The educational sector is actively developing in the community. There are 14 preschool education institutions, 14 schools, 1 children’s creativity center, 1 children’s and youth sports school, and 25 cultural institutions.
There are also 2 medical facilities in the community.
- Mainova Bobrovytsia Vocational College operates in Bobrovytsia where students are taught in the fields of Agronomy, Forestry, Production, Management etc.
The people’s amateur folk authentic ensemble “Berehynia”, which was created in 1981, works on the basis of the House of Folklore of the village of Kozatske. The ensemble became famous not only in Ukraine, but also far beyond its borders. Stage amateurs took part in the International Festivals of Lithuania and Hungary.
Community and War
On February 24, 2022, Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the period from February 26 to April 2, 2022, the catchment area of the Bobrovytsia Town Council was surrounded by occupiers and was completely cut off from transport connections with other population centers, which made it impossible for residents to receive food, hygiene products, and medicines. There were interruptions in the supply of electricity. During the hostilities, gas pipelines and telecommunication networks were damaged, and residential buildings of citizens were destroyed.
The following villages of the community were under occupation: Pisky, Stara Basan, Havrylivka, Petrivka, Branytsia, Ukrainka.
It was especially difficult for the residents of the villages that were under the occupation of enemy troops for a month, as they were in the path of the Russian army, which was attacking Kyiv. The occupiers stationed tanks and other military equipment in the populated areas. The soldiers of the aggressor’s army intimidated and robbed local residents.
During military operations in the course of the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the liberation of the occupied territories of the Chernihiv Region, Russian troops deliberately fired at residential buildings, destroying them.
There are 166 damaged and destroyed residential buildings in the catchment area of the Bobrovytsia City Council, of which 138 were damaged and 28 were completely destroyed. In particular, 13 community-owned assets of the social sphere were damaged, including 2 buildings of Starosta-headed district, 7 assets of culture and 4 assets of education.
The villages of the community are gradually returning to their previous life after de-occupation. Gardens burned by the war are blooming, grass is turning green on the scenes of fires and near the broken enemy equipment.
People of the Community
Hennadiy Ivaniuk is the acting Mayor and Secretary of the Town Сouncil.
The leadership of the Bobrovytsia Town Council together with the deputies and the executive committee constantly ensure that the community becomes more developed, successful, comfortable for the life of every local resident.
During the occupation, all the leaders together with the secretary of the council stayed in the community and performed their duties.
All residents of the community make a lot of efforts to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in particular, the employees of the culture department collected almost half a million hryvnias for the year 2023 at the community’s charity concerts to help the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
However, rural and Bobrovytsia town culture institutions help the army not only by raising funds at charity concerts. A sewing workshop for sewing underwear for soldiers on the front line and in hospitals was opened at the Bobrovytsia House of Culture. Culture workers also organized the production of energy bars for front-line fighters which are delivered by local volunteers. Also, a kind of workshop for the production of trench candles was created in the community.
Development Strategy
The main priority areas of work of the Bobrovytsia urban territorial community are as follows:
– attraction of investments and establishment of cooperation with public organizations, partners, donors;
– construction and reconstruction of social infrastructure facilities;
– creation of favorable conditions for the development of small and medium-sized businesses;
– development of sports and gaming infrastructure, which is critically important for future generations of community residents;
– development of green tourism in the community.
List of Sources
- Interview with community representatives.
- Official website of the Bobrovytsia Town Council.
- Facebook page of the Bobrovytsia Town Council.
- Official website of the O. Mainova Bobrovytsia Vocational College of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine
- Official website of Zemlia I Volia LLC.
- Wikipedia