Yabluniv Territorial Community

History

The administrative center of the community is the settlement of Yabluniv. Yabluniv was founded in the late 16th century. In 1593, the Polish king Sigismund III Vasa granted the Galician elder Stanisław Włodek a privilege to establish a town on the lands of the village of Stopchativ. In 1602, the town received Magdeburg rights and was named Włodkiv. In 1610, the town was purchased by a nobleman – royal captain Maciej Jabłonski and in 1640-s, his son Jan renamed Włodkiv to Yabluniv.

In 1940, the Soviet occupiers turned Yabluniv into the district center of the Yabluniv district with all the repressive bodies. “Yabluniv wells of death” – 5 wells in which the remains of prisoners from the prison were found – were located here. During the excavations, 74 victims of Bolshevism were found. On August 12, 1990, the reburial of the victims of communist terror in Yabluniv took place.

There is a Greek Catholic Church of Suffering and Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Yabluniv. Its construction lasted from 1991 to 1997.

The church in Liucha was first mentioned in the Church Tax Register of the Lviv Diocese in 1680. In 1701, a new wooden church was built at the expense of the parish priest, Father Pavlo Kotovskyi, and a resident of the village, Andriy Hanusiak. The current wooden church was built in 1844 and consecrated in 1846.

A wooden Hutsul church in the village of Liuchky, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine (a parish and church of the Orthodox community of the Kosiv Deanery of the Ivano-Frankivsk Eparchy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine) is an architectural monument of national importance, dated 1820. The church is located in the center of the village near the main road, and was a branch of the parish in Bania-Berezivska.

Economy and Welfare

There are about 183 registered business entities in the territory of the Yabluniv Settlement Council. Most business entities are engaged in retail trade, restaurant activities, mobile food services, bread and bakery production, flour confectionery production, and juice production.

Agriculture is actively developing in the territory of the community. The enterprise “Ovecha Ferma” is engaged in breeding sheep, goats, and cattle. The enterprise “Karpatska Syrovarnia” specializes in the production of butter and cheese.

Also, in the territory of the community there are such well-known cheese production brands as “Syrna Komora” and “Hutsulska Syrovarnia”. In order to popularize local production, these brands have repeatedly participated in local food fairs throughout the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Small family businesses play an important role in the community’s economy. For example, sisters Iaroslava Boiechko and Halyna Zaiachuk have brought their business ideas to life.

Yaroslava Boiechko is from the settlement of Yabluniv, Kosiv District. In 2002, she and her husband Vasyl decided to start their own business. That’s how “Domashnia Pekarnia” was born. The couple set up a tiny bakery on their own. Since then, the bakery’s premises have grown from 30 m2 to 400 m2. In addition to bread, they now also bake korovais (loaves), kalachs (soft sweet bread), and melais (cornbread).

The couple Halyna and Yurii Zayachuks started their business from scratch. At first, Halyna baked cakes and sold them at the market by the slice. Now the company has several workshops baking cakes, pastries, holiday pies, and their company “Halochka” pays over UAH 100 thousand in taxes to the Settlement Council per year.

There are also other hotel and restaurant business facilities in the community, which shows the potential for tourism development. It is important that many of these locations are situated along state road R-24.

The community has land plots at its disposal that are potentially attractive for investment.

The education sector in the Yabluniv community is operating effectively, with the largest portion of funds allocated from the community budget. The community has 11 secondary education institutions, 5 preschool education institutions, the Yabluniv Center for Children’s Creativity, the Yabluniv Children’s and Youth Sports School “Sokoliatko”, the Yabluniv Interschool Education and Production Complex, and the Yabluniv Children’s Art School (a cultural education institution).

An important priority in the community is to ensure the accessibility of preschool education for children and to create the necessary conditions for the functioning and development of a network of preschool education institutions, which is why two preschool departments have been created and are functioning at the Liucha Gymnasium and the Vyzhnii Bereziv Gymnasium.

There are not enough placement possibilities in kindergartens for all children, so the community is building a new modern preschool education facility for 60 children in the village of Stopchativ.

In 2019, the “Inclusive Resource Center” of the Yabluniv Settlement Council was created.

In the Yabluniv Center for Creativity, extracurricular education is represented by 29 clubs, which cover 310 students. In the Yabluniv Children’s and Youth Sports School, 280 students are engaged in 12 clubs, which are winners of all-Ukrainian competitions.

The Yabluniv community became the first community in the Kosiv region to actively participate in the implementation of the National Police project “Community Police Officer” on its territory. On July 29, 2020, a memorandum of cooperation and partnership was concluded between the Main Directorate of the National Police in Ivano-Frankivsk Region and the Yabluniv Settlement Council to improve the level of public safety and order.

Also, on the territory of the Yabluniv Settlement Council, namely in the village of Stopchativ, there is a State Fire and Rescue Station. It is worth noting that in order to improve the organization of fire extinguishing and the elimination of the consequences of emergency situations in the population centers, together with and with the support of the Yabluniv Settlement Council, it is planned to create and operate local (voluntary) fire protection units in the population centers of the community.

Community and War

From the first days of the war, residents of the Yabluniv community rushed to defend their homeland from russian aggression. More than 200 men today defend Ukraine in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. To date, 18 soldiers from the community have fallen, 10 are missing, and about 30 are seriously injured.

From the start of the full-scale invasion, around 1,800 internally displaced persons found shelter here. Currently, 104 still live in the community.

There are three volunteer organizations operating in the community: “Nevtomni”, “V.O.L.I.A” and “Ukraina Nezlamna”, which deliver humanitarian aid to Ukrainian soldiers. On several occasions, together with the volunteer team of “V.O.L.I.A”, dentists travelled to the military, providing the necessary free treatment for the soldiers in the Zaporizhzhia direction.

A number of cultural and mass events were held in the villages of the community, which collected about UAH 400 thousand. The funds were directed to meet the needs of the military.

In 2024, the Yabluniv Settlement Council allocated more than UAH 3 million for which 2 electronic warfare stations, 2 quadcopters, and 68 drones were purchased for military units in which community residents serve.

Community People

Yabluniv Settlement Head Yurii Koval was elected to the post on November 25, 2020.

As part of the Yabluniv community’s cooperation with various charitable and international organizations, education institutions received modern equipment, tourist kits, furniture, and sewing equipment, and a catering unit was also equipped in the Serednii Bereziv Lyceum. To support internally displaced persons, the community received assistance from the organizations Save the Children, Care Ukraine, Caritas and others in the form of food, hygiene products, mattresses, boilers and financial support, and the points of invincibility received generators and household appliances. All this contributes to the improvement of living conditions of IDPs and the development of educational services in the community.

Development Strategy

The Development Strategy is one of the main documents for the development of population centers of the Yabluniv Settlement Council. It defines the most important tasks that the community sets for itself for the period 2022-2027.

The strategic vision for the development of population centers of the Yabluniv Settlement Council for 2022-2027 sets out the main areas of activity and goals that are planned to be achieved: 

• Creating favorable conditions for living and employment.
• Developing agriculture, family farming, and entrepreneurship.
• Providing quality educational, medical, social and administrative services.
• Developing an ecologically clean territory with developed tourist potential (historical, cultural, natural, traditional heritage).

There is no artificial sports ground or swimming pool for children in the community, and 6 institutions lack sports halls and football fields. The worst situation is in the Liuchky Gymnasium. The Liucha Gymnasium has no school cafeteria, and the Bania-Berezivska Gymnasium has no place for children to study physical education. The problem of shelters in education institutions remains.

List of Sources

• Official website of the Yabluniv Settlement Council gromada.org.ua
• Photo collection of the education department of the Yabluniv Settlement Council