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Podilsk Territorial Community
Odesa
Population:
The Podilsk Urban Territorial Community is located in the north of the Odesa Region.
The total surface area of the community is 13,690 hectares.
As of 01 January 2022 its population amounted to 42,657 people, including:
the working-age population of the community: 25,935 people;
the number of internally displaced persons as of 23 December 2022: 2,150 people.
The community includes the town of Podilsk and the villages of Lypetske, Oleksandrivka and Kazbeky.
History
The town was founded in the middle of the 18th century. Birzula was first mentioned as a settlement in Turkish documents dating back to 1779.
Over the years of its existence, Podilsk (before 1935 – Birzolovo, Birzulovo, Birzula) has changed its status more than once. Initially, it was a village with 102 farms and 412 residents. The population was mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry.
In 1865, the Birzula station became one of the first railway junctions in Ukraine, which began to ensure traffic and repairs of locomotives for the North-Western (Odesa-Kyiv) railway.
In 1895, Birzula became the parish centre of the Ananiivskyi District of the Kherson Province, and on 18 December 1904 Emperor Nicholas II personally visited the village.
In 2016, the town of Kotovsk was renamed the town of Podilsk.
In the territory of the Podilsk Urban Territorial Community, namely the village of Kazbeky, there is an Underground Monastery built in the early 20th century by the followers of the religious movement of Innocent.
In 2014, the Underground Monastery in the Garden of Gethsemane area was recorded in the State Register of Immovable Landmarks of Ukraine in the local significance category as a historical and architectural landmark.
At the moment, this landmark is in a state of disrepair and requires significant funds for restoration.
Economy and Welfare
In the field of agriculture, 23 companies carry out their production activities in the territory of the community. The main areas of specialization of the community’s agriculture are the cultivation of grain and leguminous crops, horticulture and animal husbandry.
There are 1,573 medium-sized and small businesses operating in the territory of the community.
The community is also actively developing in the field of trade and restaurant business.
The industrial complex of the community is represented by 12 enterprises, in particular: a bakery, grain elevators, a winery, a furniture factory, asphalt-concrete and asphalt factories.
One of the oldest enterprises in the town is the Furniture Factory, which produced its first products in 1934.
Railway transport enterprises remain the main budget-generating enterprises of the community, therefore the stable operation of these enterprises is very important.
Seven production divisions of the Odesa Railway regional branch of Ukrainian Railway JSC operate in the territory of the Podilsk Urban Community.
In addition, the Podilsk Industrial Park was created in the territory of the Podilsk Urban Territorial Community. At the moment, activities are carried out to conduct a contest for the selection of a managing company.
The town of Podilsk has the Strazhnyk area of 210 hectares. There is a project for arranging an active recreation park in the territory of the area with gazebos, bridges for fishermen, ropeways, and an ice rink in the winter. The project needs investment.
The community also pays great attention to education.
Community and War
On 24 February 2022, on the first day of russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, the Podilsk Town Territorial Community suffered losses. Its military unit was destroyed by an enemy missile, as a result of which 22 soldiers were killed.
On 28 February 2022, a Humanitarian Aid Centre was established in the community (after 19 September 2022 – the Coordination Humanitarian Headquarters of the Podilsk Urban Territorial Community), the main objective of which is to receive, process, record, store and distribute aid coming from the population and organizations among the internally displaced persons and residents of the Podilsk Urban Territorial Community in need.
In the first days of the war, when people from the territories affected by active hostilities began to arrive en masse in the community and contacts with charitable and public organizations had not yet been established, the local population actively provided the internally displaced persons with everything they needed.
Later, active interaction was established with charitable foundations and various organizations, including international ones.
Also, Ukrainians living abroad and foreign citizens actively help the community. For instance, in the first days of the war, the Ukrainian diaspora in Poland provided huge aid to the community.
Craftsmen from the Crazy Needles detachment weave camouflage nets and sew tactical first-aid kits and bandages for the military while the Palianytsia women’s detachment constantly prepares and gives away pastries and goodies to the military and internally displaced persons, provides free hairdressing services to people in need.
Two projects are also being implemented in the community, namely Free Hub and Support Space for Children and Youth and Victims of the War, under which psychological trainings and master classes are constantly held.
Link to video stories about Podilsk volunteers
People of the Community
Since March 2022, the powers of the Mayor of Podilsk have been exercised by Oleh Albanskyi, the Secretary of the Podilsk Town Council of the Podilsk District of the Odesa Region.
The community is actively developing in the field of sports, namely football. For example, Oleh Pushkarev, a trainee of FC Lokomotyv Podilsk, joined the Shakhtar Academy in 2017, previously playing for Dnipro. Together with Shakhtar, he became a three-time champion of Ukraine in the U14, U15 and U16 age categories.
Anna Tkach is the winner of the children’s vocal show “Voice of the Country. Children”. She participates in the projects of prominent Ukrainian rock musician Oleh Skrypka and Odesa jazzman Yuriy Kuznetsov.
Sofia Tepla is a gymnast recorded in the Guinness World Records based on the results of gymnastics competitions held in Milan. The girl showed a record time for the 20-metre distance in the triple gymnastic fold, which is one of the most difficult exercises. It took the athlete less than 11 seconds, which is a new world record. The previous achievement was recorded by a Chinese athlete, who spent three seconds more on this distance.
Development Strategy
The community’s economic and social development strategy defines the following priority areas:
- Development of the transport and logistics component.
- Development of the agricultural products processing industry.
- Development of resource efficiency and improvement of environmental safety.
- Development of potential activities in the field of sports, culture and education at the regional and interregional levels.
- Development of the economic component of providing services to the population, new revenues to the local budget and community participation in its use.
List of Sources
- Website of the Podilsk Urban Territorial Community
- Podilsk Town Economic and Social Development Strategy until 2025
- Datasheet of the Podilsk Urban Territorial Community