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Lebedyn Territorial Community
Sumy
Population:
The Lebedyn Urban Territorial Community is situated in the Sumy District of the Sumy Region.
Total surface area of the Community: 1,642.9 square kilometres
Population: 40,958 residents
Men: 17,664 residents
Women: 17,845 residents
Children: 5,449 residents
Pensioners: 9,864 residents
Internally displaced persons: 3,114 people
The Community consists of 125 localities: 124 villages and the town of Lebedyn as its administrative centre.
History
One of the most picturesque towns in the Sumy Region and the entire Slobozhanshchyna area – the town of Lebedyn – is situated among gardens and squares with its nice houses and wide streets lined with poplars and maples. The town is particularly wonderful in summer, surrounded by evergreen pine forests. They rise above the blue lake, which is popularly called Lebedyn.
The territory of Lebedyn was inhabited by people as early as the Late Palaeolithic. For five centuries, Lebedyn was part of the Scythian state. Tribes of farmers lived in its territory. A fairly developed civilization existed there, as evidenced by the discovered tools and utensils of the Bronze Age (II millennium BC), as well as the remains of the Cherniakhiv Culture (2nd – 6th centuries). Later, the Chumaky Sahaidachny route ran through this area. And now people find ancient silver coins near this route.
There are several versions regarding the date of its foundation. It is most likely that immigrants from the Right Bank founded a settlement in 1654, the name of which came from the lake of the same name located nearby, or it came from the name of the village of the same name in the Cherkasy Region or in the Kyiv Region, from where the immigrants arrived.
Founded in the 17th century, the ancient settlement of Lebedyn looks young and beautiful today.
The Resurrection Church is located in the territory of the Community being the oldest church in the Slobozhanshchyna area, the only one on the Left Bank built of wood without a single nail. The church was built of pine timbers. Oak stands have been partially preserved under the central log house.
The Community also runs the Municipal Boris Rudnev Art Museum, which includes eight beautiful halls exhibiting more than 2,400 works of art and having 100 years of history.
In 1928, the Mykhailivska Virgin Nature Reserve was created. Back then its area amounted to 202.5 hectares, now it has reached 882.9 hectares.
During the Ice Age, a lake surrounded by a forest was formed due to a shift in the earth’s crust. Now it is a hydrological natural site of national importance with rare beauty and transparency. The Shelekhivskyi forest reserve is nearby.
There is a farm for breeding red deer and does in the territory of the Lebedyn Community. It is located in the Burliuk site – a tourist and artistic location on the site of the long-defunct village of Semyrotivka known for its outstanding native – Ukrainian futurist artist, poet and art theorist Davyd Burliuk, a world-class figure, one of the most famous natives of the Lebedyn Community.
The town hall building is an architectural landmark of local importance. The town hall is a rare phenomenon among the towns and cities of Eastern Ukraine. Such a structure was traditionally erected in connection with the granting of Magdeburg rights to a town, that is, the right to self-government. In Lebedyn, the town hall was built in 1915 as a town administration building. But almost immediately, it lost its original purpose and was used to house the Lebedyn Art Museum, medical school, etc. Today, part of the building houses the judicial administration.
The Lebedyn Community implements an innovative tourist project “Swan in the hand: a virtual guide of the Lebedyn Community”, which involves installing information boards with QR codes on the main tourist locations and sights. Nineteen of these have been installed in the Lebedyn Urban Community, and it is planned to continue installing information boards; unfortunately, this process has been suspended due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the russian federation.
Economy and Welfare
The industry of the Community is represented by oil refining, machine-building, food, light, wood processing and agriculture enterprises. The agrarian sector prevails in the Community. The Lebedyn Community has a high level of agricultural development and ploughed territories. Agricultural land accounts for 64% of the territory.
In addition, the Community is rich in minerals, including: gas, oil, clay and healing mineral waters with high mineralization.
There is one hospital in the territory of the Community, the structure of which includes outpatient clinics and emergency medical offices, which provide medical services directly to the rural residents.
The educational network consists of nineteen institutions of general secondary education, nine institutions of preschool education, and two extracurricular institutions: a sports school and an inclusive resource centre.
Community and War
During the first days of the war, several thousand convoys of enemy vehicles travelled through the territory of the Lebedyn Community and around it. Nine localities of the Community were under occupation for a long time, and the town of Lebedyn was surrounded by russian troops and blockaded for almost a month.
In the territory of the Lebedyn Community, the invaders destroyed social institutions, private houses and enterprises. Many infrastructure facilities and businesses were damaged by airstrikes and shells. Unfortunately, there were human losses. Some of the destroyed facilities have already been restored. The Community still needs to work on the restoration of the rest of the facilities.
The Community united to bring Ukraine’s victory in the war closer. The local authorities, volunteers, together with the residents of the Community collected everything necessary for the military and people who found themselves in difficult life circumstances caused by the war. Women, mothers with children, pensioners wove nets, knitted socks and charms for the military.
People of the Community
The Community is headed by the acting mayor of the Community – Svitlana Horoshko.
Under the Community leadership, the material and technical resources of communal enterprises (institutions, establishments) have improved significantly; social and infrastructure projects are being actively implemented. Measures taken to strengthen security and international relations are expanding.
The efforts of the Lebedyn Town Council and its executive bodies are focused on creating good conditions aimed at intensifying investment activities, ensuring a positive international and investment image of the Community, establishing contacts with potential investors, representatives of external funding sources.
One of the important tasks is directing the work towards finding extra-budgetary alternative sources of funding and establishing cooperation with international funds, participating in programs and submitting requests for grants.
In 2023, project applications for receiving funds from the state budget were prepared and submitted. To participate in the competitive selection “Ukraine Recovery Program”, four projects were prepared and submitted for the construction of closed sewage treatment facilities, a deep-water well, the purchase of a garbage truck and a car lift for a utility company.
Under the Agreement of Intent between the Lebedyn Town Council and DAIGlobalLLC regarding the USAID Project “Improving the Work Efficiency and Accountability of Local Self-Government Bodies” (“HOVERLA”), the Community received a backhoe loader at no charge.
In the territory of the Community, the nongovernmental organization “Centre for European Integration of Slobozhanshchyna” together with three partner communities implemented the Project “Development of the local business sector by entering new markets” as part of the grant competition for systemic support of small and medium-sized businesses commissioned by the international cooperation program “EU4Business”. It is aimed at creating better conditions for the development of Ukrainian small and medium-sized businesses, as well as supporting innovation and exports.
In April-September 2023, the Lebedyn Centre for Extracurricular Education of the Lebedyn Town Council of the Sumy Region participated in the project “Human Dimension: Inclusive Data for Stability and Development.” As part of the project, teachers of the institution took part in three trainings. The institution also presented its vision of the development of technical education for children and student youth in the Community at an out-of-school education institution. According to the results of the competition, the Lebedyn Centre for Extracurricular Education of the Lebedyn Town Council of the Sumy Region became one of the winners of the grant project “Technical Training of Schoolchildren” and received financial support from donors in an amount of 438.815 thousand hryvnias.
The international non-governmental organization “Human in Trouble” provided assistance in organizing two “Bismart” digital distance centres at the Community schools.
240 tablets were provided to children at primary schools. Also, windows were replaced with energy-saving ones at three schools of the Community.
In 2023, the international organization UNICEF provided educational kits for general secondary education institutions, kits with sports equipment for inclusive students and kits for preschool education institutions, and almost 300 backpacks for first graders.
The “Human Dimension” charitable organization provided equipment for the technical creativity team classroom at the Lebedyn Centre for Extracurricular Education.
The “Kyiv School of Economics Charitable Fund” charity carried out repairs of the shelter in one of the schools of the Community.
Development Strategy
Despite the retreat of the aggressor from the Sumy Region, the war continues. The Sumy Region has the largest border with russia, so there is a threat of new invasions, which requires new approaches to and scenarios for the development of the Lebedyn Urban Territorial Community, coming up with an updated philosophy of life in the border region.
The main objective of the municipal authorities is to preserve human potential. To do this, it is necessary to create comfortable conditions for people to live in the territory of the Lebedyn Urban Territorial Community. The most priority sectors that need recovery and development in wartime and in the post-war period are health care, education, ecology.
To date, a working group has been set up to develop the Community strategy, and work is underway to define its development priorities.
In order to establish international cooperation in 2023, the Lebedyn Town Council and the municipality of Papa (Hungary) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation and Partnership.
