Monastyryshche Territorial Community

History

The Monastyryshche urban territorial community was formed in 2020.

Archaeological studies show that life existed on the territory of the modern Monastyryshche community from 40 to 15 thousand years ago. During excavations and research, mammoths, bison, cave bears and reindeer were discovered. In addition, about 6-5 thousand years ago, the mysterious tribes of Trypils who lived in this territory left traces of their presence in eight settlements of the community. Numerous Scythian mounds have been preserved in the Monastyryshche area, which indicates the existence of Scythian tribes that migrated there in the 1st millennium BC. The remains of settlements of the Chernyakhiv culture were found in 9 different places and the remains of the Serpent ramparts, which were built in the days of Kyivan Rus as defensive structures against nomads from the steppe, have been preserved not far from the village of Teolyn.

Monastyryshche received town status in May 1985. It was known thanks to the functioning of the Monastyryshche Machine-Building Plant for the production of water-heating boilers for industrial use, and since 1986 – for the Monfarm enterprise.

Among the monuments of history and culture are ancient churches in the villages of the community, premises of the former Polish church (house of culture) and estates of former Polish magnates.

One of these is the Dachowskis’ manor – an architectural and landscape landmark that occupies 89 hectares of land. Its complex includes a castle, an area with a leafy park on the left bank of the river and a coniferous part of the park on the right bank, a dam with a pond and the “island of love”, a garden, and arable land.

The creators of this amazing beauty were as many as 4 generations of Polish landowners Dachowskis.

In Soviet times, the castle and estate were used as a holiday home, and in the summer as a pioneer camp. In the post-war period, a closed-type sanatorium for tuberculosis patients was placed there. After the protests of the villagers, it was handed over to the military department for the treatment of officers. In 1970, the property of the field hospital was placed there. The halls of the castle were turned into warehouses for medicines. Alleys, paths, a pier for boats, a bridge leading to the island disappeared.

In 2003, the property of the hospital was taken away, but the military guard remained. The manor and the castle are closed to visitors. The “Leskove miracle” is collapsing and waiting for its new revival.

There are also 5 nature reserves on the territory of the community: 4 hydrological reserves “Tsybulivskyi”, “Shuliatske boloto”, “Stepivska ruda”, “Panske boloto”) and entomological reserve “Honchariv yar” (Khalaidove).

The estate of green rural tourism “Sadyba Ostapa” started by the spouses Olha and Oleksandr Ostapenkos for the implementation of green tourism concept is gaining popularity among tourists. It has an ethno parlour with authentic stuff, dishes, clothes, etc., and a pottery workshop. In the summer, guests can spend the night there in a picturesque natural place, enjoy fresh natural food, fish in the pond, hike in the forest for mushrooms, get acquainted with folk agriculture: grazing cows, milking cows, feeding poultry, etc.

Economy and Welfare

The Monastyryshche urban territorial community specializes in the cultivation and processing of agricultural products. Thus, agricultural enterprises make up a significant part of the economic potential of the community. So, as of today, there are 100 farms, 32 agricultural enterprises, 4 agricultural cooperatives and 2 large enterprises of the food and processing industry in the community. Enterprises engaged in growing organic products make a significant contribution to the economy of the community.

Also, the community has enterprises for the manufacture of boilers and Monfarm, a public joint-stock company known for its medicinal products outside of Ukraine.

There is a multidisciplinary hospital and center of primary health care in the community.

There are 13 institutions of general education and 16 preschool institutions operating in the Monastyryshche urban territorial community. The House of Children’s and Youth Creativity has 66 groups that are attended by over 1,000 students.

There is also a children’s youth sports school and a physical culture and sports complex with halls for football, volleyball, boxing, table tennis and a gym. Many competitions in various sports have been held there in recent years.

Community and War

The full-scale invasion completely changed the process of implementing grand plans for the development of the community. In particular, this includes the completion of the major renovation of the swimming pool and the reconstruction of the sports complex, the completion of the reconstruction of the Center of Culture and Leisure, the launch of the cinema, major repairs of educational and health care facilities, and many other ambitious plans.

With the beginning of the full-scale war, a point of reception and delivery of humanitarian aid was set up in the Center of Culture and Leisure of the Town Council. The main goal is to help military personnel and internally displaced persons with food, hygiene products, basic necessities and medicines.

In the center, people started weaving camouflage nets. Caring residents of Monastyryshche brought food and clothing for the military and the affected families.

The community established cooperation with public organizations and foundations: “Red Cross”, “Zaporuka”, “Solidarites”, “Unisef”, “Modern city and village”, “Khvlya Dobra”, “Kengurush”, as well as with volunteers, entrepreneurs and farmers of the community and country and foreign volunteers.

In 2023, more than 20,000 internally displaced persons were assisted. This is more than 210 tons of products.

According to these calculations, almost 200 tons of cargo was shipped for the needs of the military. Volunteers delivered cargo to military brigades along the entire front line.

Charity fairs and concerts in support of the Armed Forces were held repeatedly.

With the beginning of the russian invasion of Ukraine, the Monastyryshche Vocational Lyceum began to produce anti-tank and anti-vehicle “hedgehogs”, armor plates, dischargers, first-aid kits, sleeping bags, camouflage robes and other military uniforms. Workers of the food unit and vocational training specialists provided food for internally displaced persons, military personnel and territorial defense companies.

From the very first day, the Monastyryshche Lyceum “Obdarovanist” opened its doors to internally displaced persons, becoming a temporary home for them. Not a single member of the team stayed behind: they organized operational groups, drew up 24-hour duty schedules. People were warmly welcomed, registered, accommodated in a hostel and fed. Some stayed only for the night, and some stayed for several days or months. In general, the institution became a shelter for about a thousand displaced persons.

Residents of the community brought things and food, baby food, hygiene products, and animal feed. In this way, a bank of clothes and necessary things was created, which were given to those in need. A basement room was arranged as a shelter in the institution, where even residents of neighboring buildings came during air alerts.

Alla and Vitaliy Halamans – a family of doctors from the city of Kherson – had to leave everything in the city captured by the enemy fleeing from the invaders. Currently, Alla works at the Communal Non-Profit Enterprise “Monastyryshche Center of Primary Health Care” as a doctor, and Vitaliy works as a surgeon in a multidisciplinary hospital. Their daughter continues to study remotely at her school, and the son is getting a higher education at one of the Lviv universities.

The Halaman family speaks with great gratitude and warmth about new colleagues and local residents, but despite everything, they miss their hometown. They dream of returning home, meeting friends and working in their hospital again.

When the russian occupiers captured the town of Beryslav in the Kherson region, the large Somovs foster family with eight adopted children lived through a great deal – from hiding in the basement of a local factory to losing their large two-story house and their own business.

Parents Zhanna and Oleksandr have been raising children deprived of family care for 15 years. They were forced to rescue their children and start all over again. Riskily overcoming enemy checkpoints, they left for Cherkasy and since then they have already changed four homes: it is very difficult for such a large family to find a home in which there would be enough space for everyone.

The family decided to stay in the community, because everything is familiar and understandable here. The children went to school and found new friends. So the community managed to implement such an important project as a new building constructed by the Olena Zelenska Foundation with the support of an international partner: this time – the Australian Minderoo Foundation. 

The new house is exactly what a large family needs: with an area of more than 285 meters, it has 5 rooms for children and a room for parents, room for study and games, kitchen, toilets. It is equipped with its own generator and reliable storage.

The family plans to adopt more children, because every child should have a family and a home – a place where they can live in love and safety.

People of the Community

Oleksandr Tyshchenko has been the Mayor since 2002.

With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, most of his attention and work is directed to making the Victory closer. For 2023, more than UAH 5.2 million was allocated from the local budget for military needs. They bought a considerable number of thermal imagers, walkie-talkies, tablets, generators, chargers, optical sights and other things. 

Also, the cultural institutions of the community held many charity events aimed at raising funds for the needs of military personnel. During 2023, more than UAH 700,000 was collected and handed over to various volunteer groups, supported various fundraisers for the needs of local military personnel, and used to purchase different necessary equipment for the military.

With the beginning of the russian invasion of Ukraine, the public organization “Khvylia Dobra” began volunteering to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a vulnerable category of the local population (people with disabilities, children with special needs, large families, military families) and internally displaced persons living in the community.

The main goal of the public organization is to raise funds for charitable and social projects and help victims of the russian aggression against Ukraine.

The public organization constantly provides assistance to communal enterprises of the community, namely everything necessary to strengthen the material and technical base: medical equipment, furniture, generators, items for patients with limited mobility.

Volunteers also weave camouflage nets, form survival kits, prepare food for the military and do many other important work for those who stand in defense of our country.

There is an assistance center for the vulnerable category of the local population and internally displaced persons, where they can get clothes, blankets, bed linen, hygiene products, baby food and even furniture.

From the first days of the war, Vitalii Borovyk delivered humanitarian aid from Finland. Over time, he established cooperation with the organization “Kalyna – Finland Ukraina Ostrobotniia Kalyna rf” and the team of the local volunteers. They help soldiers of volunteer battalions and territorial defense fighters.

Since the beginning of the war, the volunteer group of the villages of Leskovo and Matviikha actively participated in various fundraisers for defenders, displaced persons, hospitals and rehabilitation centers. The volunteer group wove nets, collected and handed over canned goods, food, vegetables, fruits, warm things, and baked sweets.

But the main type of activity of the “volunteer group of the villages of Leskovo and Matviikha” was the production of meat cans.

Development Strategy

In December 2023, the Development Strategy of the Monastyryshche Urban Territorial Community for the period 2024-2027 was approved, which defined three main areas of the community’s development: economic development, creation of conditions for social equality and development of the community’s human potential, and infrastructural development.  

The community is working on the implementation of the Action Plan for sustainable energy development and climate until 2030.

Among the community’s priority tasks is the creation of a rehabilitation center. The community already has a sports complex, which is at the final stage of reconstruction.

The lack of housing remains the most acute problem for internally displaced persons, therefore one of the priority tasks of the community is to reconstruct the incomplete infectious department of the Monastyryshche multidisciplinary hospital into an apartment building for the settlement of internally displaced persons. The unfinished building can be repurposed as a multi-apartment residential building, and two more floors can be added. There are 58 apartments, of which 18 are one-room, 36 are two-room, and 4 are three-room apartments, with a total area of almost 5,000 m2.

They also plan to complete the reconstruction of the Center of Culture and Leisure. The lack of a full-fledged modern auditorium with innovative technical equipment does not allow effective functioning and holding festive events, makes it difficult to work with children and adults, people with special needs.

They also aim to complete capital repairs of educational institutions, health care facilities and implement many other ambitious plans.

List of Sources

• Official website of the Monastyryshche territorial community
• Facebook page of the Monastyryshche territorial community
• Wikipedia
• Monastyryshche Museum of Local Lore
• Point of reception and delivery of humanitarian aid in the Center of Culture and Leisure
• Monastyryshche Lyceum “Obdarovanist”
• Public organization “Khvylia Dobra”
• Volunteer group of the villages of Leskovo and Matviikha
• State educational institution “Monastyryshche Vocational Lyceum”