Zinkiv Territorial Community

History

The territory of the Zinkiv urban territorial community, as an administrative and territorial unit, has a centuries-old history of territorial formations in the Poltava Region. It is also one of the oldest in Ukraine. Its history is marked by the heroics of the Cossack era, shrouded in legends and tales and crowned in thoughts and songs.

Zinkiv was first mentioned in 1604 as a fortress subordinate to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Zinkiv urban territorial community has significant tourist potential, as a number of public, cultural, and scientific figures are associated with the Zinkiv area.

On the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries, the area was famous as a center of song. The luminaries of musical art were born or created here.

Many writers and literary critics are also natives of the Zinkiv area.

Thus, in 2016, the Poltava regional organization of the National Union of Writers of Ukraine, with the assistance of the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) and the Center for Cultural Management, and with the support of the European Union, worked on the project entitled “Countrymen Literary and Local History Routes”. Recently, the Ukrtelefilm studio shot a television film about the brothers Hryhoriy and Hryhor Tyutyunnyks, which was filmed in their historical homeland in the village of Shylivka.

What is interesting about the community is the preservation of the traditions of making the Motanka doll, which performed not only the role of children’s toys, but was also a decoration, a talisman in the house.

At the moment, there is only one architectural monument of local significance on the state register within the boundaries of the Zinkiv urban territorial community – the Mansion, which was built in 1897-1909. It belonged to the 1st-guild merchant, honorary citizen of the town of Zinkiv Vozdvyzhenskyi (1866-1919). After the nationalization of the property, the building was handed over for the needs of the executive committee of the District Council of Deputies. After the Second World War, the dormitory of the Zinkiv State Vocational and Technical School No. 25 was located here. Today, the Mansion at 26, Vozdvyzhenska Street is privately owned.

The most significant in terms of dimensions and location in the urban environment is the building of the Noble Assembly, which forms a corner of Vozdvyzhenska and Sumska streets. The People’s House building is located at 22, Vozdvyzhenska Street. It was built in 1910 in the Art Nouveau style using elements of the neo-Rus style. It originally had side wings, which have been restored by now.

In the early 19th – late 20th century, a number of buildings of educational institutions were erected in the town. Among them, the buildings of the female gymnasium and the male gymnasium stand out.

A shopping row building, built in 1914, has been preserved at 44, Vozdvyzhenska Street. Later, the first power plant was located here. Today, the building is used as a museum and a music school. Thus, the territory of the town of Zinkiv and the community have a great tourist potential.

Economy and Welfare

According to its structure of the economy, the modern Zinkiv urban territorial community is mainly an agrarian region. In terms of area, the community ranks 6th among the communities of the Poltava region. Production specialization of the district includes cultivation and sale of crops, animal husbandry, and food industry.

Since 2021, the community has launched a participation budget, where community residents can participate in the development of the community. Also, they organized a honey festival where beekeepers of the Zinkiv community could present their products in full, and guests from Hadiach, Opishna, and Okhtyrka were also invited.

On the territory of the Zinkiv urban territorial community there is a health and wellness hospital “Sosnovyi Bir”, which has been successfully operating since 1969. 200 people can simultaneously rest comfortably and improve their health here.

The resort house “Sosnovyi Bir” has a powerful clinical base for the treatment of diseases of the digestive, respiratory, locomotor, nervous, endocrine and cardiovascular systems.

At the service of vacationers is an area of 8.66 hectares, surrounded by greenery and pine plantations, 6 new buildings with comfortable rooms, a balneotherapy center, a polyclinic, and a modern diagnostic and treatment equipment. On the territory of the health resort there is a spring of mineral water “Tashan” which is included in the catalog of mineral waters of Ukraine.

The largest industrial enterprise of the community is UKROLIAPRODUKT. The production complexes of this enterprise are part of the company “UKROLIA” whose products are exported to more than 50 countries of the world.

In 2020, this company entered the TOP-3 producers and exporters of organic sunflower oil in Ukraine.

The company “Ranok” is a producer of natural mineral water under the trademark “Zinkivske Dzherelo”. This producer occupies a leading place among the producers of goods in the region, with an annual production volume of more than 3 million bottles of mineral water.

There are 15 secondary education institutions, the Inclusive Resource Center and the Center for Professional Development of Pedagogical Workers operating on the territory of the Zinkiv urban territorial community. Preschool education is provided by 19 preschool education institutions. Also, the community owns the Regional Center of Vocational and Technical Education, and the Communal Institution “Zinkiv Specialized Children ‘s and Youth Sports School of the Olympic Handball Reserve” and the Zinkiv Children’s Boarding School. 

There are 13 health care facilities on the territory of the community. At the primary level, the Zinkiv Center for Primary Medical and Sanitary Care provides medical assistance to the residents of the community. Secondary (specialized) medical care is provided by the Zinkiv Town Central Hospital.

An anti-radiation shelter was opened in Zinkiv Lyceum No. 1 after major renovation. Almost 700 people can stay there at the same time during air raids. This will greatly facilitate the educational process, as now all students of the lyceum can study offline – there will be enough room in the shelter for everyone.

Community and War

From the first minutes of the war, the Zinkiv urban territorial community became a near-front-line community, because the assistance to the residents of the town of Okhtyrka, which became an outpost and is located 40 km from the community, was the main thing for the residents – they met and helped people who were the first to feel the horror of the war. These were internally displaced persons from Okhtyrka, Kharkiv, Bakhmut, and many other cities and villages that were the first to bear all the atrocities of the war. Since the beginning of the war, the Zinkiv community has greeted and provided assistance to more than 5,000 people.

In the first days of the war, points of invincibility were created, to which not only internally displaced persons, but also community residents could come for help. Over time, the war moved away from the community, but the community continues to participate in fundraises for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and whenever possible, helps internally displaced persons, a considerable number of whom currently stays in the community.

The Zinkiv community has a very powerful volunteer movement – all 16 starosta-headed districts, which include 84 population centers, constantly support and help the Ukrainian military to destroy the enemy and support the home front.

The starosta of the Stavkove starosta-headed district, together with representatives of the Volunteer Corps “Everything Will Be Ukraine” delivered food, hygiene products, repellents, medicines, “hedgehogs”, and shrapnel to medical institutions and “hot” spots of the country. More than 20 camouflage nets are already covering the guys on the front lines.

Another pickup truck was handed over to the military of the Poltava Region jointly by the Zinkiv Town Council and the Poltava Regional Military Administration. They bought the vehicle with the funds of the local budget.

People of the Community

Oleksandr Prokopenko is the Secretary of the Zinkiv Town Council.

With funds from the town budget, an operating microscope was purchased for the needs of the Zinkiv town hospital for surgical interventions to restore the integrity of the damaged eardrum.

A decision was made to open a regional-level Advisory Center in Zinkiv. All doctors’ consultations in this center are free of charge and are carried out by referral from a family doctor.

Development Strategy 

It is planned to use the Strategy as one of the main planning documents of the Zinkiv urban territorial community until 2027. It will allow solving the common problems of the residents of the community and implementing common tasks regarding economic growth, increasing competitiveness, investment attractiveness, quality of life in the community through the effective use of resources and the realization of common interests by government, community and business.

The following strategic goals for the development of the Zinkiv urban territorial community until 2027 have been chosen:

Strategic goal 1. Improving the quality of life, availability of services, comfortable environment.

Strategic goal 2. An investment-attractive community with developed business.

Strategic goal 3. An ecologically safe and energy-efficient community.

List of Sources

More information about the community can be found by following the links:

• fex.net/uk
• fex.net/uk/s/zfdnx3n
• fex.net/uk/s/3vps9kk
• Official website of the Zinkiv Town Council