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Prysyvaska Territorial Community
Kherson
Population:
The Prysyvaska rural territorial community is located in the southern part of the Kherson region. The distance to the regional center of Kherson is 140 km. It was formed in 2016 by merging Hryhorivka, Ivanivka, Pavlivka and Strohanivka village councils.
The community consists of five population centers and has three Starosta-headed districts. The center of the community is the village of Hryhorivka. The total area of the community is 399 square kilometers.
The population (before the Russian invasion) was about 4,500 people.
Women: 1,665
Men: 1,117
People of retirement age: 1,001
Children: 71
History
The village of Hryhorivka was founded in 1868 by immigrants from the Kyiv and Podil provinces. The village is named after the first settler – Hryhoriy Hrabovskyi. People from the Kyiv province inhabited the northern part of the village, which was called “Kyivshchyna” for a long time, and the southern part was inhabited by people from the Kamianets-Podilskyi province and was called “Kamianechchyna”. All the land belonged to Prince Turachevskyi. He himself was a Moldovan. He had the following villages under his control: Hryhorivka, Pavlivka, Strohanivka, Ivanivka, Pershokonstiantynivka, and Yasna Poliana. On September 14, 1941, German-fascist troops captured Hryhorivka and other villages of the Prysyvashshia. On October 30, 1943, the villages of Prysyvashshia were liberated from the invaders.
The territory of the Prysyvaska community is full of historical and cultural monuments, tourist spots and picturesque landscapes.
In Hryhorivka, there is a Catholic branch stone church, which was built in 1890 under the leadership of Vasyl Rudnytskyi.
With the advent of Soviet power, they wanted to dismantle the church in order to build a school in the district center from the materials obtained. However, the ancient masonry turned out to be so strong that this plan failed.
The shrine was first used as a warehouse, then as a club, and after 1969 as a village museum. In the late 1990s, local believers repaired the church.
The highlight of the community is the communal museum, which is located in the cultural center of the village of Hryhorivka. This is a treasure trove of interesting exhibits representing the historical development of mankind from the early Iron Age to the present day. Historical artifacts were collected for decades within the boundaries of the Prysyvaska territorial community.
Economy and Welfare
Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, tourists came to the community to look at an unusual local miracle – healing Lemurian Lake of the Syvash Bay, but of course not only to look, but also to experience these healing properties for themselves.
The brine of Lemurian Lake has a rejuvenating effect – betacarotene turns it into a real elixir of youth. Medicinal muds are certified and have a wide spectrum of action. Mud is used for the prevention and treatment of diseases of various organs. Mud or clay, as it is scientifically called, acts on the amino acids of cells and renews the body. This clay used to be bought by Austria and Germany.
In connection with the popularization of Lemurian Lake, the community in the village of Hryhorivka was more actively developing “green tourism” year over year. Local residents furnished their estates and eagerly received tourists there. There was a need to increase the number of estates, because the demand exceeded the supply. There were about 40 “green estates” on the territory of the community.
Also, a hotel complex was built on the territory of the village of Hryhorivka. The hotel had a swimming pool, comfortable rooms and modern service.
The jewel of Prysyvashshia – Ivanivka spit on Syvash island, located along the village of Ivanivka – is famous for its incredible landscapes. It is also called the Ivanivka Sea.
The shores are covered with charming salt crystals, the pink water here has the same healing properties as the water of the Lemurian Lake.
Along the banks of Syvash, there are picturesque Strohanivka ponds (or lakes, as they are sometimes called), which serve as a migration corridor through which migratory birds of the wetland complex pass twice a year. In the summer, birds listed in the Red Book of Ukraine and international protection lists stay and nest here.
During the investment conference “Strategic Development and Investments”, which was held in Kyiv in November 2018 as part of the USAID DOBRE program, three united communities – Prysyvaska, Tavrychanka Village Councils, Askania Nova Settlement Council and the public organization “Agency for Regional Development of the Tavriyya Association of Territorial Communities” signed an agreement on inter-municipal cooperation, within the framework of which the “Salt Road” project was launched. The Salt Road is an agro-tourism cluster of sustainable green tourism, based on the story of Tavria about the Chumaks, the first entrepreneurs of Ukraine. In 2021, there were 15 project participants (territorial communities of the Kherson Region).
In April 2021, the “Zdyvash Syvash” hiking trail was opened to increase the hiking attraction of the country and popularize the ideas of local ecotourism. Among the objects of the route were the water-pouring Artesian water spring, the Roman Catholic church, the local history museum in Hryhorivka and the wind giants (these are 64 windmills 120 meters high). There are various stopping points in the villages – atmospheric estates, as well as comfortable mini-hotels, which are being developed at a great pace.
The “Zdyvash Syvash” project won the second place in the category “Regional Breakthrough of the Year” of Ukraine Tourism Awards 2021.
The construction project of a wind power plant in Prysyvashshia, which was both a business object and an additional tourist location, is of great importance for the development of the community. It is located along the coast of Lake Syvash on the territory of three villages. The Syvash wind power plant is one of Ukraine’s largest, with 64 wind turbines of 3.9 MW each.
An equally important contribution to the local budget was made by agricultural enterprises, 38 of which were registered on the territory of the community.
The community paid considerable attention to the educational sector, which included 5 general education institutions and 4 preschool education institutions. As part of the Program of the President of Ukraine “Great Construction”, a project was implemented in 2022 under the updated name “Reconstruction of the building of the Pavlivka school with the implementation of energy efficiency measures and the arrangement of a complex of sports, educational and research and recreation areas”, but the war and the occupation of the territory got in the way…
On the territory of the community there were sports mini-football fields with artificial turf, the “Atlant” sports club and the “Center for children’s and youth creativity and sports”.
Throughout the year, festivals and competitions for children and youth were held in the community. The most famous are “Kupala Night”, “Pearl of Prysyvashshia”, “Talents of Prysyvashshia”.
Community and War
In the first hours of the full-scale Russian aggression, the entire territory of the Prysyvaska community was occupied. This led to a shortage of the most necessary goods: food, medical preparations, fuel and lubricants.
But despite this, community residents and local entrepreneurs rallied to help low-income categories of the population and pensioners. They arranged free delivery of food, bread and dairy products to everyone who needed it.
During the period of temporary occupation, no destroyed objects on the territory of the community were recorded, but administrative buildings, premises of schools and preschool institutions were robbed – office equipment, new furniture, machinery, TV sets, computer classrooms were taken away and even doors and linoleum were removed; the machinery of the village council and communal enterprise “Strumok” was re-registered according to Russian standards, etc.
Russian troops are constantly within the population centers of the community, moving on the roads with heavy equipment, as a result of which the road surfaces are damaged. Pits for equipment are dug along the streets. The community often lacks mobile communications and the Internet.
The occupiers terrorize the civilian population by constant searches, persecution, kidnapping. All these circumstances forced most of the community residents to leave their homes.
On July 20, 2024, a Humanitarian Center for Internally Displaced Persons from Kherson Oblast was opened in Dnipro, with the support of the Kherson Regional Military Administration and the efforts of four communities: Prysyvaska, Myrnenska, Velykolepetyska and Hornostaivska.
The center provides a variety of support, including humanitarian aid, legal advice and psychological assistance. A speech therapist works for children, and there is a children’s room where they can play while their parents receive the necessary services. There are plans to expand the space for teenagers, where they can watch movies and cartoons, followed by discussions on important topics such as friendship, mutual assistance, responsibility and tolerance.
People of the Community
Olena Peleshok has been the head of the Prysyvaska Rural Military Administration since December 2022.
After the occupation of part of the Kherson region on February 24, 2022, Olena Peleshok stayed in the post of village head of the Zelenyi Pid village council and continued to manage the community to provide the population with everything necessary under occupation.
However, on August 5, 2022, due to her refusal to cooperate with the occupation authorities, she was kidnapped by the military and held captive until September 29, 2022. She left for the Ukraine-controlled territory on September 30, 2022.
The territory of the Prysyvaska territorial community continues to be under temporary occupation.
Among the priority tasks of the village council for 2024 are assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, financial support for military personnel, veterans of the community, persons with disabilities, cancer patients, orphans and children deprived of parental care, humanitarian support for residents of the community who were forced to leave their own homes and to move to Ukraine-controlled territory.
Employees of the military administration and council office actively participate in volunteer meetings, supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Development Strategy
The basis of the effective performance of the Prysyvaska Territorial Community is strategic planning of its activities. Since 2017, the village council has been a participant in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Program “Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency” (DOBRE). In 2023, the USAID DOBRE Program and the Prysyvaska Rural Military Administration signed a memorandum of cooperation that will be in effect until the middle of 2025 (II phase of cooperation).
In May 2023, within the framework of the Emergency Response Project of the USAID DOBRE Program, 2 power generators were handed over to the Prysyvaska Rural Military Administration. In case of emergencies, the territorial community will use generators to operate water supply facilities, shelters, points of invincibility, health care and education facilities.
The assistance was made possible thanks to the activities of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
In March 2024, as part of the Service Improvement Project, the Prysyvaska Territorial Community received a backhoe loader with load carrying attachment from the USAID DOBRE Program.
After the de-occupation of the Prysyvaska rural territorial community, one of the most important tasks will be the restoration of the infrastructure destroyed by the Russian troops and the return of residents to their homes. Social cohesion should become a driving force for the development of the territory. The main areas of work in the post-war period:
- The development of alternative energy sources, especially wind generators and solar power plants, can be a chance for the development of the community. Several wind power plants are already operating on the territory of the community. The owner is Syvashenergoprom LLC, which was registered on the territory of the community and paid taxes to the local budget in the pre-war period.
- One of the important priorities in the development strategy is the implementation of the investment policy of the community. Available land plots can be used both for the construction of solar and wind power plants, and for the cultivation and processing of agricultural products.
- In addition, there are measures to restore the tradition of animal husbandry in the territory of the community, in particular through the allocation of areas for pastures, where it will be possible to graze cattle in the future, which will positively affect the development of cattle breeding or sheep breeding.
- Tourism is an integral part of the community as a potential new stimulus for local economic development.
List of Sources
- Ukrainian Crisis Media Center
- Facebook page of the Mega Syvash hotel “”
- Information about the architectural monument.
- Facebook page of the Prysyvaska community
- Official website of the community
- Facebook page of Syvash SPP
- Development strategy of the Prysyvaska community 2018 – 2026
- YouTube channel of the Border Guard Service of Ukraine
- Ukraine Media Center YouTube channel
- arr.ks.ua