Novovolynsk Territorial Community

History

Novovolynsk is Volyn’s youngest town. The decision to create it was made by the Soviet authorities when, after the Second World War, coal deposits began to be developed here, near the border with Poland, within the limits of the Lviv -Volyn coal basin. In 1957, it received the status of a town. The town was built on the territory of four villages: Dorohynychi, Nyzkynychi, Budiatychi and Rusovychi. Now it is part of the Novovolynsk territorial community, which includes, in addition to Novovolynsk itself, the villages of Hrybovytsia, Hryady, Nyzkynychi, Tyshkovychi, Khreniv, Kropyvshchyna and the settlement of Blahodatne.

While the town of Novovolynsk is young, the villages of Dorohynychi, Nyzkynychi, Budiatychi and Rusovychi, in turn, have a much older history. Thus, there is an assumption that Nyzkynychi was the ancestral estate of the legendary Drevlyan princes Nyzkynia and Mal, and Prince Volodymyr the Great was born in Budiatychi when Princess Olha expelled his pregnant mother Malusha from Kyiv.

In the annals, the village of Nyzkynychi was first mentioned in the 15th century, when the Polish King Jagiełło presented these lands for military merits to Oleksandr Kysil – a representative of the ancient Volyn family, which originates from Kyiv voivode Svitold dating back to the time of Sviatoslav’s and Volodymyr’s reign. In 1643, the famous voivode Adam Kysil founded the fortified Nyzkynychi monastery with the Five-Dome Assumption Church, where later many representatives of the Kisil’s family, including Adam himself, were buried. The church and monastery on the eastern outskirts of the town have survived to this day and are the main monuments of industrial Novovolynsk.

The tourist potential of the community is quite promising as there are a large number of ancient temples and museums.

The Novovolynsk People’s Historical Museum was created not far ago, in 1998, and received the status of a people’s museum in 2004.

In 2023, the Rusovychi Ethno-Gallery of the private collector, Maria Dolinovska, commenced its activity.

Economy and Welfare

Over 40 industrial enterprises form the economy of the Novovolynsk Urban Territorial Community. They engage in instrument making, woodworking, chemical, metalworking and food industries, as well as furniture production and construction operations.

The specialization of the enterprises is diverse – from the manufacture of prefabricated wooden structures, wood processing, furniture production, and cosmetics to heavy metallurgy.

The largest entities of the community include the following enterprises:

• Kronospan, which is engaged in the production of plywood, wooden boards and panels, and veneer,
• VMK-Ukraine – furniture production,
• Novovolynsk Foundry – steel casting,
• Silva Trans – freight transportation,
• Hahn Elektrobau Ukraine – production of electronic components,
• Western Industrial Group – production of paints, varnishes and similar products, printing ink and mastics,
• Mechanical Foundry – mechanical processing of metal products,
• U.CANVAS – production of technical and industrial textile products.

In general, there are over 4,000 enterprises of various forms of ownership in the community as of 2024. In addition, since the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, 10 enterprises have been relocated to the community.

Important factors in the development of the community’s economic potential are the municipality’s comprehensive support of business initiatives and projects aimed at strengthening the economic potential.

The community opened Volyn’s first industrial park “NOVO”, launched a priority development zone with minimum and zero tax rates, developed a business support program and created the Novovolynsk Investment Portal (https://innv.com.ua/). In addition, it is engaged in the development of the established Business Support Center “NOVO” in partnership with DAI Global LLC. Also, the municipal staff has structural units that help businesses attract financial resources and write grant applications.

The Novovolynsk urban territorial community is actively developing its educational sector. Educational services in the community are provided by 11 institutions of preschool education, 11 institutions of general secondary education, 1 institution of vocational and technical education, 1 college and 1 higher educational institution – Branch of the Ternopil National University of Economics. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, new educational institutions from the Donetsk region were relocated to the community.

The development of the educational sector is ensured regularly through the improvement of educational spaces and conducting activities aimed at educating active youth. For example, in 2019, the project “The first step in the transition to the use of renewable energy sources in the town of Novovolynsk” was implemented, whereby thermal modernization of Novovolynsk Lyceum No. 7 was carried out at the expense of the European Union.

The spirit of activeness and solidarity has always prevailed in the community, which is manifested in various initiatives for the development of youth, culture and sports. The local sports school “Shakhtar” has a great reputation – its pupils achieve high results in athletics and team sports, winning prizes in championships and tournaments.

The cultural life in the community is no less bright.  The people’s amateur orchestra “Elegia” and Serhiy Bahniuk’s people’s amateur orchestra have long won the hearts of Novovolinians. The theater “Avantiura” is no less famous and loved by the audience. All of them always perform to capacity audiences at their premieres and concerts.

Community and War

The Novovolynsk community did not escape the horrors of the war. Since 2014, 151 heroes have fallen, another 51 soldiers are considered missing. The war has changed everyone’s lives, but the community remains cohesive, supporting its defenders and each other during this difficult time.

Since the first days of the war, the Novovolynsk community and its residents have actively participated in the support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Novovolynsk Town Council systematically makes decisions regarding the allocation of funds to cater for the needs of soldiers. The residents of the town organize numerous charity events and fundraisers in support of our defenders. The Humanitarian Headquarters “Novovolynsk.Help” operates in the town through the “Community Development Fund” project. Since 2022, work on weaving camouflage nets for the military has been organized. For this purpose, two locations were allocated, where local volunteers, including participants of the Free Time 55+ University, work every day. In addition, volunteers have been working continuously in the community, providing our defenders with everything they need since the first days of the war.

No damage or destruction was recorded in Novovolynsk due to russia’s armed aggression. However, one of the first challenges the community faced with the beginning of the war was catering for the urgent and permanent needs of internally displaced persons, and later their adaptation and integration into the life of the community.

Currently, about 4,038 IDPs are registered in the Novovolynsk community. We take into account the fact that a large number of them will not return to their former places of residence, because they have actually already adapted to new living conditions and have become permanent residents of the community.

People of the Community

Borys Karpus is the mayor of the community. His main goal is to involve all stakeholders in the development of the town, the implementation of innovations and the boldest ideas that will help the community to prosper.

Since the beginning of the war, the community has undergone changes, but it has not lost its activeness and determination. An important project was implemented with the financial support of the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF and the Government of Norway – the opening of the “4.0” Youth Center, which has become an environment for supporting the development and education of young people. The center has become a place where young people gain knowledge and find opportunities to realize their ideas and projects.

In 2023, in partnership with GIZ, the component of the project “Promotion of energy efficiency and implementation of the EU Directive on energy efficiency in Ukraine” aimed at installing solid fuel boilers (4 boilers) in Novovolynsk was completed.

Since June 2023, the community is implementing the project “Housing for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Reconstruction of Liberated Cities in Ukraine” in partnership with NEFCO.

During 2024, the project “Social and psychological support and reintegration of veterans and their family members” will be implemented in partnership with the International Renaissance Foundation on the basis of the public organization “Novovolynsk Union of ATO Veterans”.

Development Strategy

The basis of the effective activity of the Novovolynsk urban territorial community is strategic planning of its activities. The Plan for the Restoration and Development of the Novovolynsk Urban Territorial Community of the Volyn Region until 2027 is the main determining document in which all development areas and strategic initiatives of the community are gathered. The plan contains 144 project initiatives with a total cost of almost UAH 13 million.

The community pays special attention to energy efficiency, business development, ensuring socio-economic development and strengthening the ability to respond to the challenges of marital law (through high-quality provision and support of military personnel, thanks to the integration of IDPs into social life, due to an increase in the number of the community’s facilities for the settlement of internally displaced persons and persons in need of housing).

As of 2024, the Novovolynsk Urban Territorial Community has 15 established partnerships with European cities. Novovolynsk successfully cooperates with the cities of Grasse (France), Bilina (Czech Republic), Kelme (Lithuania), Stropkov (Slovakia), Leuna, Neumünster, Crailsheim (Germany), Swidnik, Bilgoraj, Hrubieszów, Otwock County, Hrubieszów, Lublin Voivodeship, Gmina Jaraczewo, Gmina Rymanów (Poland). Activities with partners are carried out in the field of education, medicine, humanitarian aid, improving the health of children, strengthening economic and social potential.

Sources

• Official web portal of the Novovolynsk Town Council – nov-rada.gov.ua
• Official web portal of the Internet publication “BUG” – bug.org.ua
• Web portal of the Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine – esu.com.ua
• Official Facebook page of the Mayor  – facebook.com
• The Plan for the Restoration and Development of the Novovolynsk Urban Territorial Community – drive.google.com
• Official Facebook page of “Veteran Hub / Novovolynsk” – facebook.com
• Official Facebook page of 4.0 Youth Center / Novovolynsk – facebook.com
• Official page of the town of Novovolynsk in Telegram – t.me
• Investment portal of the town of Novovolynsk – innv.com.ua