In Mykolaiv, at the «Zoria» swimming pool, children painted Nazi symbols on the lockers
- Alina Kvitko
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14:18, 21 May, 2026
In Mykolaiv, children have daubed graffiti on the freshly painted lockers in the changing rooms of the ‘Zorya’ sports complex. ScreenshotIn Mykolaiv, unknown individuals left obscene graffiti and Nazi symbols on lockers in the changing rooms of the «Zoria» sports complex swimming pool.
This was reported by the municipal institution «Central City Stadium», which manages the sports complex.
According to the administration, on 17 May, staff painted the walls in the changing room and prepared the premises for visitors. The work was carried out on a day off to create suitable conditions for training. The following day, graffiti and drawings, some of an offensive and obscene nature, were discovered on the freshly painted walls.
The facility stated that they consider this an act of vandalism and disrespect for the work of staff and other visitors.
«Everything you see here was done by your children before their training session at the Zoria Sports Club swimming pool. This is simply an act of vandalism and disrespect,» the management said.
They added that the damaged property would have to be repaired again and urged parents to pay attention to their children’s behaviour.
Zoria added that the damaged property would have to be repaired and urged parents to talk to their children about behaving responsibly in public places.
«How can anyone, at a time of war, damage property and use fascist and blatantly obscene symbols? This is unacceptable. And who will now restore all this to its proper condition, and more importantly — at whose expense?» the administration wrote.
It should be noted that in 2025, 4.3 million hryvnias were spent on the major refurbishment of two sports halls at the «Zoria» sports complex in Mykolaiv. Work is set to continue, with the total cost of the project amounting to 16.3 million hryvnias.
Renovation of the «Zoria» sports complex
In May 2023, the first swim took place in the refurbished pool at the «Zoria» sports complex in Mykolaiv.
Prior to this, the pool was inspected by Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych. He explained that the renovation of the sports complex is taking place in two phases. The first phase involved renovating the pool basin, changing rooms and other technical facilities necessary for the pool’s operation. The second phase, which is still ongoing, involves the refurbishment of the sports hall and changing rooms, the insulation of the building and other works.
The process of transferring «Zoria» to the city’s ownership began back in August 2018. Two years later, in March 2020, the sports complex was transferred to the municipal ownership of Mykolaiv. At the same time, the state-owned enterprise «Ukroboronprom» compensated the city with 5 million hryvnias for the renovation of «Zoria».
Following the transfer of the sports complex, Oleksandr Sienkevych promised to reopen the «Zoria» swimming pool in autumn 2020. However, the work was delayed. In autumn 2021, the City Council’s Capital Construction Department announced a tender for the major repair and restoration of the «Zoria» sports complex, with an estimated cost of 94,915,520 hryvnias.
In December 2021, Deputy Mayor Vitalii Lukov stated that the renovation of the «Zoria» sports complex would not be completed until at least the second half of 2022. Later, during the renovation of the swimming pool at the «Zoria» sports complex, seven cracks were found in the pool basin.
Subsequently, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych announced that the «Zoria» sports complex would open in February 2022. Due to the outbreak of full-scale war, the completion of the works and the opening of the swimming pool were postponed once again.
Read also the article by NikVesti: «How is the Zoria municipal swimming pool performing after the refurbishment?».
And the article by NikVesti: «The Zoria swimming pool in Mykolaiv, renovated at a cost of ₴32 million, is concealing its income and issuing «fake» receipts».