Sienkevych ordered an investigation into access to shelters following complaints from residents
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- Darina MelnychukCorrespondent
The Mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, has ordered a check on access to shelters following complaints from residents. Illustrative photo: NikVestiThe Mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, has ordered a check on unimpeded access to civil defence facilities after residents complained that shelters were locked during air raid alerts.
He announced this during a staff meeting on 4 August, according to NikVesti.
«This happens to us all the time: people calm down, and then they put locks on the doors, prop them open with bricks or bar them from the inside with sticks. We have examples of this. I therefore ask that you organise and carry out an inspection to ensure unhindered access to civil defence shelters. I ask that particular attention be paid to the round-the-clock operation of shelters, unimpeded access, and the proper functioning of the systems for opening and closing entrances,» said Oleksandr Senkevych.
He also emphasised that those responsible for maintaining the shelters must respond promptly to reports of closed shelters during air raid alerts.
«If people have arrived at a shelter, those in charge — particularly in residential buildings and homeowners’ associations — must open it promptly. I am therefore issuing a formal instruction to the First Deputy Mayor and the Department for Emergency Situations. Please provide me with a report following the inspection. Just yesterday, I was informed that a shelter at one of the schools was closed in the evening,» concluded Oleksandr Sienkevych.
Staff meeting of the Mykolaiv City Council on 4 August. Photo: NikVestiCity residents have repeatedly complained about shelters being closed during air raid alerts or about their poor condition; in particular, residents recently complained about the poor condition of the shelter at 69 Tsentralnyi Avenue in the centre of Mykolaiv. According to them, the shelter has no lighting or seating, and the contact number listed on the information board is not working.
Read also: «Why do Mykolaiv residents not use shelters: a survey by NikVesti».
What is the situation with shelters in Mykolaiv?
Mykolaiv is short of more than two thousand shelters, and this problem is most acute in the Lisky, Namyv and Pivnichnyi neighbourhoods. It is there that the city authorities plan to install mobile shelters, as there are virtually no permanent shelters in these areas. At the same time, Mykolaiv is counting on state support to develop its network of shelters.
During shelling, Mykolaiv residents are unable to access departmental shelters outside working hours. Residents of the city contacted the editorial office of NikVesti, reporting that during an air-raid alert they were unable to reach the shelter at 173 Tsentralnyi Avenue. All other nearby shelters also belong to institutions or enterprises managed by municipal or private organisations, and only admit people during working hours. Mykolaiv City Council has promised to raise the issue of shelter accessibility for discussion at a meeting of the executive committee.
Only 7 per cent of Mykolaiv’s shelters are open. At the same time, there is a problem with the accessibility of shelters — there are no ramps or gentle slopes. In April 2024, residents of Mykolaiv were unable to access a shelter within the «Kazka» children’s town during an air-raid alert because it was closed. The children’s village administration conducted an internal investigation into this incident.
This is not the first instance of shelters being locked during an air raid alert in Mykolaiv. Shelters in the Matviivka neighbourhood, in the city’s Central District and in «Yunist» Park were also found to be locked during the attacks on Mykolaiv on 17 March. Following these incidents, Mykolaiv’s mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, urged residents to call the police if a shelter or bomb shelter was found to be locked during an air-raid alert.
Overall, Mykolaiv found itself on the list of regions with the poorest condition of shelters. Following an inspection of shelters across Ukraine, the National Security and Defence Council deemed the preparedness of shelters for use to be unsatisfactory in a number of regions and cities, including Mykolaiv. Following this, the mayor dismissed Oleksandr Herasymenia, head of the Department for Emergency Situations and Civil Protection. The first deputy mayor, Vitalii Lukov, received a reprimand.
Vitalii Kim, former head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, clarified that 69 per cent of the region’s neglected shelters are located in Mykolaiv itself.At the same time, almost half of the city’s residents (47 per cent) rated the condition of the city’s air-raid shelters as appalling or poor.
Back in May 2023, over 70 million hryvnias were allocated from Mykolaiv’s budget for the repair and equipping of shelters. However, it transpired that the city budget would not receive any of the 102 million hryvnias that the state had allocated for the repair of shelters in schools and nurseries across the region. And at the end of August 2023, the former head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, Vitalii Kim, stated that he was dissatisfied with the shelters in the region’s schools.
Hanna Lychko, head of the Education Department at Mykolaiv City Council, reported that shelters in 21 schools in the city are being repaired, with a further nine at the planning stage. At the same time, the city council announced that by the end of 2023, the Department of Housing and Communal Services planned to repair 18 basic shelters.
In October 2023, NikVesti reported that the Department of Architecture of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration had, over the course of a month, concluded 27 direct contracts for the development of designand cost estimates, as well as for the major refurbishment of public sector facilities, with the firm «Architectural Bureau – Wave 89» LLC, which has been in existence for less than six months and is owned by a member of the regional public council on reconstruction. The Mykolaiv Regional State Administration later explained that direct contracts with this firm for the design of shelters had enabled budget savings.
In August 2024, the government allocated around 5 billion hryvnias from the budget for shelters in schools across eight regions, including the Mykolaiv region.
See also the article by NikVesti entitled «Either two walls or go outside.» Why didn't the Yuzhnoukrainsk authorities build a single shelter for the community in more than two years of war?».
It should be noted that the Mykolaiv region was among the top five regions that, in 2024, demonstrated the best performance in terms of expanding and preparing shelters.
This material was produced within the REACH – Media Partnerships for Accountability and Trust project, implemented by International Media Support (IMS) and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. The content reflects the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Danish government. Denmark’s support strengthens civil society and independent media in Ukraine, including in Mykolaiv.
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