Kostopil Territorial Community

History

The town of Kostopil in the Rivne region was founded on November 14, 1783 by the privilege of the Polish king Stanislaus Poniatowski. At the beginning of its existence, in 1798, there were only 30 farmsteads in the town, where residents were engaged in crafts. The first factory appeared in 1851, but the development of the town was slow.

In 1861, Kostopil became the property of Prince Aleksander Czartoryski. With the construction of the Polish Railway in 1883, the economy of the town began to develop. By 1897, the population of Kostopil had grown to 1,708 people. Religious buildings and the first schools appeared in the town. Industry also developed: plywood and furniture factories, sawmills and iron foundries were opened.

During the First World War and the subsequent revolutionary events, the town suffered significant destruction. In the 1920s, Kostopil became the center of the town commune and Kostopil County, cultural and nationalist organizations became active. At that time, various industries operated and about 800 students studied in schools.

In 1939, the Sovietization of Kostopil began, which led to the nationalization of enterprises and repression. With the beginning of the Second World War, the town was occupied by German troops, which caused wholesale slaughter of civilians. However, in 1944, Soviet troops liberated the town.

After the war, industrial production was restored, including a glass factory and sawmills. In the period from 1945 to 1957, there was a pedagogic school, and from 1954 – a medical school in the town. Important events of the 1990s include the declaration of independence of Ukraine and mass construction of residential buildings.

Modern Kostopil is distinguished by developed industry and active participation of the Town Council in international projects. In September 2015, a documentary film about Kostopil was edited in Hollywood. In 2020, the Kostopil urban territorial community was formed, which merged 10 village councils of the former Kostopil district.

7 rivers flow through the territory of the community, the largest of which are Horyn and Zamchysko.

The Kostopil area is a kind of treasury of cultural and historical heritage. The most significant and interesting places for tourists include:

• The only “Forest Museum” in Ukraine, which is located on the geographical border between the forest-steppe and polissia zones of the area.
• Kostopil Local History Museum and Wartime Rebel Hideout. During its existence, the Museum has become one of the main institutions dealing with the history of the region from ancient times to the present day. The museum plays an important role in the cultural and educational life of the town and the community and constitutes a tourist point on the path of tourist trips to the site of the post of the UPA First Headquarters (1942-1943) in the village of Hutvyn, Kostopil territorial community and “Basalt Pillars” in the village of Basaltove, Holovyn rural territorial community. The area around the museum is a kind of recreational zone, one of the favorite places of rest for local residents and guests of the community.
• A memorial sign in the Hutvyn tract on the site of the post of the UPA headquarters where the festival of the patriotic song, “Glory to Heroes!” has been held annually since 1992.
• 59 monuments of cultural heritage, including: 19 monuments of archeology, 13 monuments of architecture and urban planning (including 2 of national importance), 25 monuments of history and 2 monuments of monumental art.
• there are 28 objects of the nature protection fund on the territory of the community.

Forest massifs of the Kostopil community make up more than 46.6% of its territory, which is higher than the regional indicator, which, in turn, is the highest in Ukraine. Accordingly, the community has a developed woodworking industry which has a significant impact on the environment.

On the territory of the Kostopil community there are 10 objects of the nature reserve fund (ornithological reserve of local importance “Marianivskyi”, botanical reserve of local importance “Rokytnianska dibrova” and 8 protected tracts), which is a good base for creating tourist routes in the community.

Economy and Welfare

Due to its good territorial and geographical position, developed manufacturing industry and moderately developed agriculture, the Kostopil urban territorial community is attractive for investment.

The Kostopil area is rich in deposits of peat, chalk, limestone, kaolin, and potter’s clay.

Manufacturing industry is the most important structural link of the community’s economic complex. Powerful industrial enterprises with a large number of employees operate on the territory, in particular, the 11 largest enterprises have more than 2.5 thousand employees and are part of the “Great circle of the region”. These enterprises produce 8.5-9% of industrial products of the region. In 2022, the volume of sold industrial products amounted to almost 4.9 billion. The community is an industrially developed area, which is represented by such largest enterprises as:

SWISSPAN Limited, which is the flagship of Ukrainian woodworking and one of the leaders in the production of furniture boards in Ukraine. The company specializes in the production of polished and laminated chipboards of its own trademark “Swisspan by Sorbes”, which is a structural material for the production of cabinet furniture, interior decoration, building structures, etc. The company was founded in 2003 by the Swiss Group Sorbes AG and owns two woodworking enterprises in the West of Ukraine: in the town of Kostopil (Rivne region) and the town of Nadvirna (Ivano-Frankivsk region).

The Kostopil Glass Factory started its activity in 2010. The main types of products: glass bottles with a capacity of 40 ml to decanters of 2 liters for the perfumery, medical, and food industries.

Ukrainian Sawmills is a woodworking enterprise specializing in the production of dry lumber using the Scandinavian technology of sawing, drying and sorting. The company uses a local forest raw material that has a FSC certificate of origin – Pinus Sylvestris sawdust from state forestry in the north-western regions of the country. It began its activities on December 21, 2017.

There is also an enterprise “Design” in the community, which started its activity in 1994. It manufactures a wide range of furniture panels and jointed elements for the furniture industry and is engaged in the production of doors, linear articles, such as: plinths, flooring blocks, paneling, block house of various configurations. The enterprise operates a powerful workshop for the production of fuel wood pellets.

One of the largest enterprises, “Rodyna KM”, started its activities in 2023 at the previously operating enterprise “Rodyna” (2010-2023) and “Kostopil Food Factory” (1994-2010). It is part of the group of enterprises of TM “Rodyna”. It produces more than 200 products, which are deservedly in great demand among consumers, including:

– sugar confectionery: marshmallows, toffee, marmalade, dragee, oriental sweets, candies;

– flour confectionery: butter cookies, oat cookies, gingerbread with filling, biscuits;

– 45 types of bread and bakery products;

– groceries: juices, jam, honey, etc.

As of the beginning of 2024, 2,066 economic entities were registered, functioning and paying taxes to the local budget in the territorial community.

The agro-industrial complex of the community is represented by 70 business entities, the majority of which are engaged in crop cultivation, 17 in animal husbandry, and 11 in other types of activities.

In addition, 3 business entities are engaged in animal husbandry and meat production on the territory of the community. Among them, it is worth noting “Halal Company” – Ukraine’s first high-tech cattle slaughtering complex, where halal beef is produced from valuable breeds of cattle.

Crop production is represented by the cultivation of legumes and oil crops – corn, soybeans, sunflower and rapeseed. In 2023, 7,063.6 hectares of land were sown by farming enterprises on the territory of the community.

Community and War

With the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kostopil community rallied immediately. Those who did not join the ranks of the Armed Forces helped in whatever way they could: people equipped basements for shelters, wove nets, brought aid, including materials, food and money, to the local Territorial Defense Forces and the military.

Since Rivne region is a rear region, communities, including the Kostopil community, immediately began to help the front and accept refugees from the front-line regions. The dormitories of the sports lyceum and the medical college in Kostopil were prepared for the reception of displaced persons. Residents of the community also brought aid there – blankets, clothes, small household appliances. Some accepted refugees in their homes. Entrepreneurs-owners of catering establishments on their own initiative prepared and fed meals to soldiers, policemen and displaced persons free of charge.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, more than three thousand refugees have passed through the Kostopil community. 1,388 remained in the community – they live in the private sector in the town and in the villages of the community.

Two doctors and three nurses from the Kostopil Hospital joined the army and serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The hospital has deployed additional beds to accept the wounded, and is now preparing to open a rehabilitation department.

The “Volia” Volunteer Center holds fairs where it raises funds for the needs of the Armed Forces. With the funds and aid from sponsors, they purchase what is necessary for the front and regularly deliver aid to the front-line. Kostopil volunteers, through the “Nezlamnist” charity fund, help with food for the hospital, repair cars for the front and deliver them to the places of combat missions by compatriot soldiers from the Kostopil area.

The public organization “Medical Front” supplied and delivered tactical medical kits to many units at the front. They bought thermal imagers and many other things that are most needed.

The Kostopil Town Council regularly helps military units with equipment and allocates funds from the budget for defense and frontline needs. Expenditures aimed at the fulfillment of tasks related to repelling armed aggression, ensuring the inviolability of the state border and state protection, implementing territorial defense measures and protecting the safety of the population from the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion exceed UAH 71.5 million.

People of the Community

Didukh Davyd, Acting Mayor, Secretary of the Kostopil Town Council.

Over the past 5 years, the Kostopil community has had the opportunity to implement a number of projects in cooperation with USAID (“Hoverla”), UNDP, the International Organization for Migration, UNICEF, the NGO “ECOCLUB”, the Western Ukrainian Regional Non-Business Public Organization “Volyn Resource Center”, the Rivne Regional Organization of the NGO Public network “OPORA”, Charity Foundation “Rokada”, NGO “Psychological Service of Euromaidan”, “Partnership “To every child” International Charity Foundation, etc.

Holding charity fairs has become a good tradition for residents and guests of Kostopil. Citizens unite to achieve a common goal – to help soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Most recently, on August 24, 480,000 hryvnias were collected for the Armed Forces at the Independence Day fair. Caring entrepreneurs, creative teams of studios and communal institutions joined the charity event.

Wives of fallen servicemen from the Kostopil community united and created the public organization “Angels on the Shield”. The association specializes in comprehensive support of native fallen soldiers, as well as commemoration of fallen defenders. The public organization “Parents of Angels” was created to provide psychological and other assistance to the parents of fallen and missing servicemen.

The cultural sector is represented by the House of Culture, a music school, several libraries, and a local history museum. The folk dance ensemble “Veselka” is the most famous group of the town known for its mastery and participation in international festivals in Poland, Slovakia, Moldova, Hungary, Bulgaria, South Korea (world folklore festival), Macedonia, Slovenia, Greece, Israel, Turkey, France, and Montenegro

The Kostopil community has a well-developed educational infrastructure, which includes:

• 16 institutions of general secondary education (12 lyceums, 3 gymnasiums, 1 primary school);
• 4 separate preschool education institutions and 10 preschool departments at secondary schools;
• 2 institutions of extracurricular education;

In addition, two vocational and technical education institutions operate in the community:

• The Kostopil Construction and Technology College of the National University of Water Management and Nature Management;
• The Kostopil Medical College of the Rivne Medical Academy;

The town of Kostopil also has a multifunctional sports stadium “Kolos” which hosts various football championships.

Development Strategy

In June 2024, the Kostopil Territorial Community Development Strategy for the period until 2030 and the Action Plan for 2024-2027 for the implementation of the Kostopil Urban Territorial Community Development Strategy for the period until 2030 were adopted and approved. During this process, the vision and strategic development goals were defined:

Vision: The Kostopil community is a picturesque area of Polissia, the cradle of the UPA, a community of successful, hardworking and patriotic people, an ideal place for living, doing business, and recreating.

Strategic goal 1 – A community of sustainable economic development: creation of conditions for the development and support of small and medium-sized businesses; investment stimulation.

Strategic goal 2 – A comfortable, safe and environmentally friendly community: improvement of the environment in the community; development of security infrastructure; improvement of communal infrastructure and implementation of energy-efficient measures.

Strategic goal 3 – A community with developed human capital: improving the quality and availability of services in the fields of education, culture, physical education and sports; provision of high-quality medical care and social protection to community residents; increasing the activity of public institutions and the efficiency of local authorities.

The Action Plan for the years 2024-2027 for the implementation of the Development Strategy of the Kostopil Town Territorial Community for the period until 2030 consists of 93 local development projects and programs for a total amount of UAH 563.9 million.

In the field of sports, it means completing the construction of a physical culture and health pool on the basis of the Kostopil Children’s and Youth Sports School.

In the field of business – creation of public space for business and public activity.

In the field of culture and tourism – arrangement of tourist infrastructure in the Hutvyn tract and arrangement of a bicycle route on the territory of the Kostopil territorial community.

In the field of education, this is the creation of a specialized lyceum in the community (educational hub).

In the environmental area – preparation of the Action Plan for sustainable energy development and adaptation to climate change of the Kostopil urban territorial community, within the framework of joining the “Agreement of Mayors” initiative; implementation of the project: “Reconstruction of sewage treatment facilities in the town of Kostopil, Rivne region with a capacity of 5,000 cubic meters per day”; development of comprehensive documentation for cleaning the Zamchysko River; development of the infrastructure for removal, separate collection and sorting of solid household waste in the Kostopil community

In the field of land relations, it is a comprehensive land inventory (audit) with the creation of a data visualization system and geospatial mapping of the state of land resources of the Kostopil urban territorial community; preparation of a comprehensive plan for the spatial development of the territory of the Kostopil urban territorial community.

In the field of social protection and health care – acquisition of “Social Taxi”; creation of a rehabilitation department on the basis of the “Kostopil Multidisciplinary Intensive Care Hospital”, creation of a barrier-free environment in the community.

In the area of digital development and electronic democracy, this means the introduction and development of e-government and e-democracy projects in the community: open town, public and school budgets, map of repairs, interactive map of the register of communal property, urban planning and geocadastre, etc.; implementation of digital technologies in education, preschool education, health care.

In the field of energy conservation and development of communal infrastructure – implementation of projects for the production of renewable energy and thermal modernization of public and residential buildings.

In the housing and utilities sector, it is the development of road infrastructure and the modernization of the material, technical and production base of the utility enterprises of the community.

List of Sources

• Official website of the Kostopil Town Council
• Facebook page of the Kostopil Town Council
• Wikipedia
• Main Department of Statistics in Rivne Region
• Official websites of leading industrial enterprises of the community.
• The Development Strategy of the Kostopil Territorial Community for the period until 2030 and the Action Plan for 2024–2027 for the Implementation of the Development Strategy of the Kostopil Urban Territorial Community for the period until 2030