Kamiana Territorial Community

History

The administrative centre is the village of Kamiana, first mentioned in written records in 1730.

According to one version, its name comes from the word “stone”, as the stream crossing the village flows through a stony valley once filled with quarries that supplied building material for Chernivtsi. 

The community is home to several architectural landmarks. 

During Austro-Hungarian rule in Bukovyna, in 1895, a two-storey stone school was built in Kamiana with funding from the local administration and community, alongside the wooden St Michael’s Church.

The village of Mykhalcha, which belongs to Kamiana Community, became the site of important historical events. In 1709, near the village, a battle took place between retreating Swedish troops after the defeat at Poltava and the pursuing Russian imperial army. The Chernivtsi Regional Museum holds a painting by artist Khokholiev entitled “The Battle of the Russian Army with the Swedes in Mykhalcha, Chernivtsi Raion, 1709”. 

In Mykhalcha there is also a wooden Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, over a hundred years old, as well as a manor estate.

Economy and Welfare

The community’s economy is based on wholesale and retail trade, construction, services, agriculture and agricultural processing. 

Local businesses include grocery stores, hardware shops, cafés, bars, and restaurants. The community also has a pharmacy, hairdresser, petrol station, car washes, etc.

Farming and crop cultivation are well developed in the community. A total of 37 legal entities and individual entrepreneurs operate in this sector within the community. Crops include soya, wheat, barley, sunflower, rapeseed, and maize. Produce is sold across Ukraine and exported abroad.

Animal husbandry is also present, with pig farming and sheep breeding. Many households maintain their own small farms with cattle, poultry, vegetable gardens, and beehives.

One of the key enterprises is “Bukovynaprodukt”, a canning factory operating since 1975. It produces over 60 varieties of fruit and vegetable preserves, jams, and spreads.

The company owns two registered trademarks – Bukovyna Product and Soky Bukovyny. It sells its products both in Ukraine and abroad, including Moldova, the United States, Canada, and Romania (current contracts).

The factory is currently up for sale and awaiting an investor.

The community is also rich in clay deposits for brick production. The existing quarry is leased to and actively developed by one of the brick factories in Chernivtsi.

The tourist sector is well developed in the Kamiana Community. Beautiful beech forests rich in mushrooms, flowering fields, lakes and ravines, as well as the hilly landscape, attract both tourists and holidaymakers.

One of the central leisure facilities in the community is the tourist complex “Aqua+”. The entire complex is built around a large lake with an adjacent forest strip, which creates an exceptionally beautiful landscape. On the territory of the complex there is a hotel, a restaurant, a bar with a summer terrace, a sauna, gazebos, a set of outdoor swimming pools, a children’s playground with domestic animals, fishing spots, and a neat walking area.

The community provides administrative services in a high-quality, quick and accessible manner. On the basis of the Kamiana Village Council, a “Diia Centre” has been opened, which works to improve the accessibility of administrative services for the population.

Education in the community is represented by three pre-school institutions and three schools

The healthcare network is also well developed. Three general practice–family medicine outpatient clinics and six feldsher-midwife stations are operating, covering the entire territory of the community. Thanks to this, even in remote parts of the community, residents have access to prompt medical care.

The Community and the War

On 24 February 2022, the Kamiana Community, like the whole of Ukraine, faced the war on its native land with horror and uncertainty about the future. Thanks to its favourable geographical location in a border oblast of the country, the community “almost” did not suffer directly from the full-scale invasion. 

However, in this war the community has already lost 17 of its soldiers; another 13 are considered missing, and three remain in Russian captivity. Many have been wounded. In total, more than 400 residents of the community have taken up arms to defend the state.

Since March 2022, a humanitarian headquarters has been operating in the building of the Kamiana Village Council, organised and run by a resident of the village of Kamiana, former private entrepreneur Domnika Daneliuk. Thanks to her tireless efforts, Ukrainian defenders and internally displaced persons have received thousands of tonnes of food and other supplies.

The schools of the community are also constantly involved in helping the defenders. Charity fairs and fundraising events are regularly organised among children, and the money collected is directed to support the soldiers.

At the Mykhalcha Lyceum, during a charity fair dedicated to the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, almost 100,000 hryvnias were raised. This money was used to purchase vehicles for the military.

The Orthodox Church in the village of Mykhalcha, during the full-scale war, has provided more than 2 million hryvnias in assistance to the soldiers. With these funds, drones, vehicles, and other military equipment have been purchased.

The young men and women of the Seventh-day Adventist Church regularly make trench candles and send them to the front line to provide warmth for the soldiers. They also prepare food packages and weave camouflage nets. 

Within the territory of the community there is also the religious organisation “Chernivtsi Oblast Centre of the United Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith”, which from the first days of the war opened its doors for the permanent accommodation of more than a hundred internally displaced persons. At present, the centre continues to house 24 displaced persons, including three children.

Local car mechanics provide free repairs for vehicles that are used to carry out combat tasks in the war zone. In this way, everyone, in their own place, contributes to bringing victory closer.

People of the Community

The Head of the Kamiana Village Council is a resident of the village of Kamiana – Mykola Kostashchuk. He was first elected village head in 2017, and since then has been re-elected twice.  He has served continuously as the head since the establishment of the Kamiana Amalgamated Territorial Community.

During his time in office, Mykola Kostashchuk has made a significant contribution to the development and prosperity of the community. First and foremost, children’s playgrounds have been set up across the community; construction works and major repairs of shelters in schools and kindergartens have been carried out; landscaping works have been organised in the kindergartens and schools of the community. 

Major repairs have been completed for two boiler houses – one in the Stari Broskivtsi School and another in the Mykhalcha Lyceum. Three school buses have been purchased, with a significant share of co-financing from the local budget. A “Point of Invincibility” has been established in the village of Mykhalcha. An artificial football pitch has been built, also with co-financing from the community and a council member.

Development Strategy

The Development Strategy of the Kamiana Community for 2021–2027 was adopted in December 2021.

It contains four strategic objectives:

Strategic objective 1. Enhancing the competitiveness of the recreational and agro-eco-tourism opportunities of the community
Strategic objective 2. Preserving the environment and increasing energy efficiency
Strategic objective 3. Engaging businesses in the integrated development of agriculture and industry of the community
Strategic objective 4. Creating conditions for the development of human capital and local traditions

Sources

Website and Facebook page of the community