Andrivka Territorial Community

History

Until 1860, the territory of the community was inhabited by Nogai people, the last nomads of the Black Sea steppes. They were mainly engaged in sheep breeding roaming from place to place. With the development of agricultural colonization, there was an attempt to force the Nogai people to live in one place. The French emigrant Count de Maison, appointed bailiff of the Nogai hordes, burned all the Nogai kibitkas and forced the Nogai people to flee in response to their refusal to settle.

Bulgarian colonies were founded on the devastated lands, including the village of Andrivka, which was founded in 1862 by immigrants from Bessarabia.

The first inhabitants of the village came here from the village of Troyany, located in Bessarabia, and their leader was Andrii. When they arrived at a permanent place of life, most of them wanted to name the village in honor of their leader – Andrivka. Those of them who did not want to rename the village, founded the village of Troyany, which borders the village of Andrivka.

By ethnic origin, 90% of the community population are Bulgarians. Therefore, the community honors Bulgarian national holidays.

On March 1, on the day of the Baba Marta holiday, the leadership of the community held a festive meeting with the Bulgarians of the area and the head of the Association of Bulgarians of the Zaporizhzhia region.

Economy and Welfare

Agriculture is the main industry developing in the community. Before the full-scale invasion, agricultural companies, a forestry farm, a granite quarry, a quarry of molded materials, an elevator, a center for certification and examination of seeds and sowing material, a state variety research station, etc. operated in the community.

A large amount of building materials is mined at the quarry of molded materials. Coarse-grained pink granite lies at a depth of 30-40 meters, in some places it comes to the surface. A crystal shield passes through the village, which is located on the right bank of the Kiltychchia River. Hard rocks of migmatite and granite come to the surface.

A highway passes through the community connecting the village with the cities of Berdiansk, Melitopol and Zaporizhzhia.

There are 5 education institutions, a village club and a center for the development of national culture in the community. There is also a hospital’s outpatient clinic and two medical and obstetrical stations.

Despite the fact that medical workers are not at home as the territory is temporarily occupied, they continue to perform their difficult work.

Today, schools function under the regime of the occupiers. Still there are Ukrainian online schools that are attended by a very small number of children due to the fear of being caught by the Russian military.

Residents of the community, who are now internally displaced persons, participate in various sports competitions and represent their area with dignity.

Community and War

On February 26, 2022, with the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, military equipment of the aggressor began to enter the village. More than 100 pieces of equipment accumulated in Andrivka village itself.

Panic spread through all the villages of the community in the first days, people immediately felt the pressure of the occupation and began to try to resist the Russian troops.

Residents of the community tried to contact the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the community immediately removed signs with the names of alleys and villages

From the first days of the invasion, the community was taken under occupation. The village council officials resigned their posts on May 31. All the workers of the Andrivka village council remained in the occupied territory.

In September 2022, the Andrivka village military administration was created, which is located in the city of Zaporizhzhia and helps to establish a comfortable life for the residents of the community who leave the temporarily occupied territory for Zaporizhzhia.

People of the Community

Bohdan Tkachenko is the head of the Andrivka village military administration.

An event was held recently, where employees of the village military administration congratulated teachers and defenders on their professional holiday.

On the New Year and Christmas holidays, Bohdan Tkachenko, the head of the Andrivka village military administration, together with deputy head Oleh Dylov and with the help of partners, organized a wonderful event for children of internally displaced persons of the community. New Year’s greetings, interesting contests and a good mood awaited the little ones. There were also sweet gifts.

The community is actively working on expanding partnerships that contribute to its development.

Development Strategy

After the de-occupation of the territory, it is planned to change the economic specialization of the community. It will not only focus on agriculture, but the processing, mining, tourism and energy industries will develop thanks to investment. This will reduce economic dependence on only one area of the economy.

Taking into account the future de-occupation and possible problems with electricity supply, it is planned to create a solar power plant to provide the residents of the community with cheap and environmentally friendly electricity.

Since there is a quarry for the extraction of granite and the production of rubble on the territory of the community, it would be expedient and economically profitable to build an asphalt plant here, which will ensure the restoration of transport highways in the Berdiansk district, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions with its products, and this will guarantee profits for investors and jobs for residents of the community.

First of all, the restoration of roads is planned, because there are roads of local and district importance in the community, which, taking into account the occupation (constant movement of the occupiers’ equipment and future possible battles during the de-occupation), have already been partially destroyed and may be destroyed in the future.

Also, it is planned to restore gas and water supply pipes, power lines, which may be destroyed during de-occupation.

Today, there is an understanding that the railway infrastructure may be partially or completely destroyed during the liberation of the community from the russian occupiers. Therefore, it is planned to restore the railway tracks.

Considering the fact that the territory of the Andrivka united territorial community is currently under occupation and a large part of the property of communal institutions has been looted and taken away, the social sphere is one of the main areas that will require special attention in the post-war period. Therefore, the question of developing and implementing strategic social projects arises.

The Profecta company with the main office in Berdiansk took care of the health care of the community residents. The medical staff carried out their professional activities in the hospital building, which was located on the territory of the community. But until August 2016, there was also an outpatient clinic of a general family practice doctor, the material and informational base of which has been preserved with a high probability. Therefore, in order to modernize the medical services for the population, they intend to resume the work of the outpatient clinic when time comes.

In order to learn from and adopt practices of the already de-occupied communities, the head of the Andrivka village military administration paid a working visit to the communities of the Kherson region. During the trip, aspects of the military administrations’ first-order actions after the liberation of the territory, the establishment of the work of authorities, the communal sphere, demining and other vital spheres were considered.

The leadership of the community strives and makes it a priority to restore and preserve all objects of social infrastructure, extend its life by improving working conditions for its employees.

List of Sources

• Official website of the Andrivka community
• Official Facebook of the community
• Official Telegram channel