For decades, access to the Dnieper River in the Kozin section of Koncha-Zaspa has been restricted by fences surrounding private properties, even though, by law, all citizens are entitled to access the riverbank, and a 50-metre-wide strip along the riverbank must remain free of development. As it turns out, neither the police nor the Ministry of Economy and Environment are aware of this problem.
At least, that was the response given by officials to Oleksandr Shvetsov, who goes by the username shvetsovua, after he raised the issue of blocked access to the Dnipro in a series of videos on TikTok.
“I drove along kilometres of the riverbank. Kilometres of fences. Closed-off banks. The water comes right up to private property. And at some point I realised that I, a citizen of Ukraine, cannot walk normally along the banks of my own country’s main river,” the man wrote.
He tried to reach the bank in Kozin. However, behind the fences of the upmarket housing estate, all he heard from the security guards was that the access points were ‘somewhere further on’. The video also included an eloquent dialogue about the current situation regarding access to the water.
– But I need to get to the water, to the Dnieper.
– So what?
– How am I supposed to get there?
– I don’t know.
– Well, how do people get there?
– They don’t.
@shvetsovua Mr Minister of Ecology of Ukraine, I believe it is now a matter of honour for you to restore public access to the country’s main river – the Dnipro – in the Koncha-Zaspa and Kozin areas. Today I drove along kilometres of the riverbank. Kilometres of fences. Closed-off banks. The water runs right up to private property. And at some point, I realised that I, a citizen of Ukraine, cannot walk normally along the banks of my own country’s main river. The banks of the Dnipro have effectively been turned into a closed VIP zone. Something that should belong to all Ukrainians has been behind fences for years. After that, I went to the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Capital District and to the Department of Ecology of the Kyiv Regional State Administration. And the scariest thing about this story is the impression that for decades, no one has ‘seen’ or ‘heard’ what is going on there. Surely the whole country can see it, but the state authorities cannot?
♬ оригінальний аудіозапис – Shvetsov UA
However, the blogger’s appeal was primarily directed at the Minister of Economy. Following the protest outside the building, Oleksiy Sobolev agreed to meet with Shevtsov. When asked about the long-standing neglect of the issue, the minister emphasised that he had not been in charge of the institution for decades and asked several times for the camera to be turned off.
“Once the camera was off, we agreed that the ministry promises to set up another special commission, which will visit the site within the next ten days and document all instances of the banks being blocked off and people being denied access to the Dnipro,” commented Oleksandr Shvetsov on the meeting.
@shvetsovuaThey did let me in to see the Environment Minister after all. And the main question I kept asking: how is it that for decades the state has ‘failed to see’ that in Koncha-Zaspa and Kozin, the wealthy have effectively blocked people’s access to the Dnipro? To be honest, I got the impression that they either genuinely do not understand the scale of the problem or are pretending not to understand. The Minister asked several times for the camera to be turned off, and once the camera was off, we agreed that the Ministry would set up another special commission, which would visit the site within the next ten days to document all instances of the riverbanks being blocked off and the lack of public access to the Dnipro. They also asked me how I thought the situation could be resolved. I explained it very simply: the regulatory authorities must stop turning a blind eye to the obvious, and everyone who has kept quiet about this for years and ‘failed to notice’ must face serious consequences. Because it cannot be that people have effectively had the country’s main river stolen from them — and everyone has remained silent. We must show the whole of Ukraine that the law applies equally to everyone. And to Koncha-Zaspa as well.♬ оригінальний аудіозапис – Shvetsov UA
EcoPolitic previously reported that Ukraine is planning to increase fines for pollution and violations relating to the use of water bodies. In particular, if the bill is passed, erecting fences around rivers or lakes will cost citizens between 3,400 and 6,800 UAH.
