Horishni Sherivtsi Territorial Community

HISTORY

The village of Horishni Sherivtsi is situated in one of the many hollows of the Khotyn Upland. Its peaks are characterized by gentle slopes and faintly pronounced summits. Local lore suggests the name derives from the phrase “Go to the wide mountains.” The village of Horishni Sherivtsi was first mentioned in 1453. 

Archival documents indicate that in 1774, a distillery operated in Horishni Sherivtsi, as the local estates primarily cultivated sugar beets. In 1890, construction of a brick factory began, with its products sold far beyond Bukovyna. 

In 1871, an elementary school was built, primarily serving the children of wealthier peasants. 

The village of Zadubrivka was first mentioned in written sources on June 20, 1453, under the name Budylche. Later, the villages merged, adopting the name Zadubrivka, which is typical for the area. According to local elders’ stories, the village was surrounded by impenetrable forests, hence the name Zadubrivka, meaning “the area beyond the oak grove.” 

Archival records show that a wooden church was constructed in Zadubrivka in 1765.

The histories of the villages of Shubranets and Vaslovivtsi are intertwined with those of Horishni Sherivtsi and Zadubrivka, as these villages have always maintained economic and social cooperation and existed under similar conditions throughout their history.

Economy and Welfare

The Horishni Sherivtsi Territorial Community specializes in agriculture, with the majority of its economic potential concentrated in the administrative centre, the village of Horishni Sherivtsi.

The primary economic sector is represented by the cultivation of agricultural crops and livestock farming. 

The community hosts the agricultural limited liability company “Svizhenka Milk.” Its primary activity is the breeding of dairy cattle, along with other livestock such as sheep, goats, pigs, and other animals. The company also engages in growing various grain crops, legumes, oilseed crops, melons, vegetables, root crops, tubers, and other annual and biennial crops. 

Currently, “Svizhenka Milk” leases 39 land plots. In 2024, a milk processing plant was completed on the company’s premises, though it has not yet commenced full operations.

Regarding the extractive industry, the Horishni Sherivtsi Territorial Community has a sand quarry where sandstone is also extracted, in addition to sand.

At present, the quarry’s operations are not at full capacity, and demand has significantly decreased compared to previous years. 

The community’s forests, covering 2,300 hectares, are currently managed by the unified forestry enterprise “Forests of Ukraine.”

The Horishni Sherivtsi Territorial Community also hosts small-scale production of detergents, hosiery, forged products, and metal fencing (nets). 

Production is concentrated in the premises of former collective farm facilities in the villages of Horishni Sherivtsi, Shubranets, and Vaslovivtsi.

The community operates three general secondary education institutions.

To meet the needs for preschool education, two facilities operate – Horishni Sherivtsi and Shubranets kindergartens – along with a preschool education unit.

Part of the community’s service sector includes the restaurant business, with establishments such as “Pleso,” “Sazan,” and “Lavanda.”

Since March 2024, an Administrative Services Centre has been operating under the Horishni Sherivtsi Village Council, capable of providing over 200 types of services to community residents.

Tourists and visitors may be interested in the community’s religious sites. Notable among them is the St. Michael’s Church in Zadubrivka, built in the romantic modernist style with elements of Romanesque and Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture, along with other structures.

The Community and the War

Since the first days of the full-scale invasion, the Horishni Sherivtsi Territorial Community has been actively involved. 

According to an analysis by the Department of Finance of the Chernivtsi Oblast State Administration for the first nine months of 2024, the Horishni Sherivtsi Village Council allocated 11.2% of its own budget (over 2 million UAH) to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, veterans, and their families, ranking fifth among the oblast’s communities.

The community’s residents united and took action: engaging in volunteer work, donating to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, assisting internally displaced persons, and holding charity fairs. This support continues to this day.

More than 260 community residents have defended and continue to defend Ukraine in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. To date, 14 servicemen have been killed, and 12 are considered missing in action.

People of the Community

On 20 October 2020, Mykhailo Savchyshyn was elected head of the Horishni Sherivtsi Community, having served as the village head of Horishni Sherivtsi since 2015.

The community’s development priority is education, upbringing, and training of children who will shape Ukraine’s future. Plans include reorganizing the Horishni Sherivtsi educational institution into a lyceum. 

All conditions are in place for this: qualified teachers, a newly built modern school, convenient transportation links, and new school buses.

School buses were acquired through the Ukrainian Facility initiative, with the village council providing co-financing of nearly 4 million UAH to the Chernivtsi Oblast budget for the implementation of a public investment project to ensure barrier-free access to quality education.

Development Strategy

In July 2025, the community approved its Development Strategy for 2025–2027.

The main strategic priorities of the community’s development strategy are:

• Development of human capital and improvement of quality of life;
• Sustainable development of spatial infrastructure and tourism;
• Enhancing economic resilience and investment attractiveness of the community.

The Horishni Sherivtsi Territorial Community is a territory for the implementation of diverse modern business projects, offering real opportunities for innovative ideas and profitable investments in various sectors.

Sources

• History of the Villages: bukportret.info/zastavnivskiy-rayon/gorishni-sherivtsi/istoriya-gorishni-sherivtsi/

•  Community Website: grsh-gromada.gov.ua