Dunayivtsi Community

Khmelnytskyi
Population:

The Dunayivtsi community is located in the south of the Khmelnytskyi region on the border of the main highways. The centre of the community – the town of Dunayivtsi – is located the district centre of the town of Kamianets-Podilskyi and 68 km from the regional centre – the city of Khmelnytskyi.
Population: 35,915 inhabitants
Women: 16,578
Men: 13,822
Children under 18: 5,515
The community includes 1 town (Dunayivtsi) and 20 starosta-headed districts (50 settlements)
Since the beginning of the war, the community has sheltered 7,857 internally displaced persons

History

The first mention of the town dates back to 1403. In 1592, King Sigismund III Vasa granted Dunayivtsi Magdeburg rights which were confirmed in 1605 by King Sigismund III. Since 1923, Dunayivtsi has been the district center, and since 1958, it has been a town of district subordination. In 2001, the town of Dunayivtsi was included in the list of historical settlements of Ukraine. In 2023, the city will celebrate its 620th anniversary. There are 6 palaces in the Dunayivtsi community and 1 of them has a picturesque park.
At different times, Dunayivtsi were owned by a huge number of magnates of that time. In the second half of the 18th century, Jan Krasinski bought Dunayivtsi from the Potocki family, where he and his family settled. It was them who built a palace in the town, which has been preserved with minor alterations until now.

Krasinski Palace
Krasinski Palace

There is another old estate in Dunayivtsi – the palace of Vasyl Zavoyk, who became the owner of the town in 1891. In memory of the progressive landowner, the town still has the estate, which turned into a health care facility in Soviet times.

Palace of Vasyl Zavoyk
Palace of Vasyl Zavoyk

At the end of the 19th century, a palace was built in the village thanks to the efforts of the general and member of the State Duma, Mykhailo Georgiyovych Krupensky. The two-story building with verandas combines Baroque and late Gothic styles. A feature of the estate is a four-story octagonal tower with a clock. Only a small fountain and an artificial lake remained from the former park, orchard, conservatory and greenhouses.

Krupensky Palace
Krupensky Palace

In 1888, the estate in Rakhnivka was acquired by the former Major General Alexander Korf (1841-1898, Warsaw). The Barons Korfs, a family in the Dunayivtsi area, have been known since the 18th century. The manor house was built in 1910 by Elizaveta-Sofia Korf, the then owner of Rakhnivka. Today, the Korf Palace in Rakhnivka houses a village secondary school.

Palace of the Korf family
Palace of the Korf family

The village of Mynkivtsi, which is part of the Dunayivtsi community, is the former capital of the Mynkovetska state. This self-proclaimed state entity existed after the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th century on the lands of the Ushytsia District, Podilsk Province. The state was headed by the Podilsk nobleman Ignacy Scibor Marchocki (“Dux et Redux”) – one of the most famous eccentrics of that time.

One of his first decisions was to free his peasants from serfdom. The state had a full-fledged judicial system and successfully developing economy (both manufacturing industry and agriculture), minted its own coins and built a hospital where famous doctors of the time worked. On the border of the state, there were border signs: “The Border of the Mynkovetska State and the Russian Empire”.

Mynkivtsi Village
Mynkivtsi Village

Burbun waterfall is located in the canyon of the Bobrivka river near the village of Lysets of the Dunayivtsi community. This is an unexpected find among local natural attractions. The place resembles a paradise island with its unspoiled wild nature, stones covered with moss and fern bushes. The strange lake that forms the waterfall is of a beautiful turquoise colour. The water here is crystal clear and transparent. Even on summer days, the water in the lake is at a low temperature. This natural feature is due to the fact that the gorge was formed from siliceous rocks and shell deposits.

Burbun Waterfall.
Burbun Waterfall.

According to legend, the people’s avenger Tomas, who saved Sokilets from the Turkish siege, was quartered on a massive stone block near the spring. The descendants carved a cross on the stone, and the nearby well was consecrated and named Tomash’s Well.

Hrabyna, a rocky limestone strand, is located on the south-western outskirts. The mountain is famous among tourists as its offers a panoramic view of the entire village of Kryvchyk and its surroundings. Also, there are small caves on the strand. Among tourists, Mount Hrabyna is known for its stunning panoramic view of the surrounding area and the Ternava River located in the valley. As a result of archaeological research on the mountain, objects of the Upper Paleolithic – the remains of a settlement and household items of the Trypil people – were discovered.

Hrabyna Mountain
Hrabyna Mountain

Economy and well-being

The entrepreneurship in the community is based on wholesale and retail trade, agriculture, processing industry, and transport companies.

Over 2,100 entrepreneurs do their business in the community. Also, 169 agricultural enterprises operate on the territory of the community, including 78 farms. 28.6 thousand hectares of land are used in the agricultural sector.

Family dairy farms
Family dairy farms
Yahidnyi Rai Cooperative Society
Yahidnyi Rai Cooperative Society

Animal husbandry is also developing in the community. There are 33 farms: they breed pigs, cattle, poultry, and there is an enterprise that breeds sheep and goats.

The community is also rich in berry enterprises, for example, the Yahidnyi Rai cooperative society, which was awarded with the highest 1st degree diploma in the category Community Cohesion in 2021 by the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development in partnership with the office of the Council of Europe.

People of the Community

Velina Zayats, Head of the Community
Velina Zayats, Head of the Community

She was born in the village of Sprysivka, Dunayivtsi district, Khmelnytsky region.

On July 25, 2015, she was elected Head of the Dunayivtsi Urban Territorial Community.

The Community Head visions its community economically developed and socially oriented. She also believes tourism to be one of the main priorities for the community’s development. Each resident will have the opportunity to develop in various areas.

Community and War

Since the first days of the war, hundreds of people from other municipalities of Ukraine have been arriving in the Dunayivtsi territorial community in search of a safe place to stay.

A Centre for Temporarily Displaced Persons was established at the Dunayivtsi Town Council to coordinate actions on accommodation and the prompt search for housing. More than 10,000 people used the Centre’s services.

Public utility companies and institutions designated as places of temporary stay, in particular educational institutions, took on the greatest burden of accommodating people, at peak times – up to 150 people stayed there. Considerable assistance in settling people was offered by representatives of the Bethlehem Church, hotel business entrepreneurs, and community residents who offered private houses.

Since the first day of the war, the residents has united and started helping people who were in trouble. More than 37 tons of vegetables and fruits alone were transferred. Local residents prepared 16,000 cans of food, and more than 9 tons of pies and dumplings were made. And on the Easter day, one of the biggest Christian holidays, the local community gave more than 2,500 Easter cakes to people fleeing the war.

Residents of the community make dumplings at the Ukrainian Armed Forces
Residents of the community make dumplings at the Ukrainian Armed Forces

In total, over 110 humanitarian voyages have already been made and more than 80 tons of humanitarian aid have been delivered from the community.

Volunteers load humanitarian aid
Volunteers load humanitarian aid

Thanks to a local initiative, employees of the town council, public utility companies  and businesses transferred their daily earnings to meet the needs of the Armed Forces. They managed to collect funds for 16 vehicles for the military.

Development Strategy

In 2021, the community developed the Strategy for the Development of the Dunayivtsi Urban Territorial Community for the period until 2027. The strategy reflects the mission of the Dunayivtsi urban territorial community: creating optimal conditions for realizing human potential, developing infrastructure, local business, tourism, attracting investments, and improving the quality of life of community residents which is planned to be achieved through the implementation of three strategic goals, namely:

  1. Increasing the competitiveness of the community’s economy.
  2. Development of human potential.
  3. Improving the quality of life and preserving the environment.
A meeting of the committee on the formation of the development strategy of the Dunayivtsi UTC
A meeting of the committee on the formation of the development strategy of the Dunayivtsi UTC Source
The community has partnership municipalities:
The Czech town of Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav
The Czech town of Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav
The Polish town of Turek
The Polish town of Turek

List of Sources

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