The nearly ten-year-long campaign to preserve a green space in Bucha has come to an end. Members of the public, environmentalists and local authorities had been striving to create the ‘Kampa’ memorial park on Lisova Street. However, to achieve this, they had to stand up to property developers who had other plans – to build the “Wonderwood” residential complex. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has finally refused the developer’s request to renew the lease agreement.
This was reported by “KyivVlada”.
This decision followed a lengthy legal battle. In June 2025, the community won its case in the Regional Commercial Court. Subsequently, the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal overturned this ruling in favour of the developers. Then, in July 2026, the Commercial Court of Cassation overturned the decision to overturn the ruling. It has been a convoluted legal battle, but justice is now on the side of the city and its people.
For several years now, the local community has been insisting that the disputed 2-hectare plot be designated as a nature reserve. And finally, the authorities face no obstacles to this.
Tree felling, protests, and public campaigning
Back in 2018–2019, the tenant, Comfort Ltd, attempted to obtain permission from the local authorities to fell almost all the trees. These included century-old oaks and hornbeams. The city council did not grant such permission, but this merely marked a new turning point in the story.
Residents spotted unknown individuals on the site, whom they dubbed “thugs”. Without any permits, these individuals began felling the trees – managing to cut down around 50 trees.
The struggle against this lawlessness turned physical. Residents, environmentalists and municipal workers tried to stop the felling. As a result, several people sustained injuries, and special forces from the National Police had to intervene to break up the clash.
Source: irpin.online
Although Comfort LTD LLC denied any involvement, the city authorities still initiated the termination of the lease agreement, which was set to expire in 2020 regardless. As Taras Shapravskyi, secretary of Bucha City Council, told “KyivVlada”, even if the company was not involved in the logging, it was still responsible for disorder on the leased territory.
Did that stop the company? Of course not. The lessee filed a complaint with the Anti-Raider Office at the Ministry of Justice but lost to the Bucha City Council. Later, with the onset of the full-scale invasion, the company sought to take advantage of the situation.
"After Bucha was de-occupied, roughly in June–July 2022, we discovered that the developer, without land rights, registered an unfinished construction project on this territory. Although he could not build anything there, since the land was repeatedly seized at different times with a ban on any construction work," said Taras Shapravskyi.
The city council then filed a complaint with the Anti-Raider Office and initiated a criminal case. The city authorities won the case.
In three years, without even applying to the city council to renew the lease agreement, Comfort LTD LLC initiated a court dispute.
While court proceedings were ongoing, the city council granted the request from ecologists at the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center to reserve the disputed site for five years for the creation of the Kamp Park Nature Reserve. In addition to fairly mature trees, the area hosts red-listed stag beetles and the brown long-eared bat, as well as 13 bird species, some of which are protected under the Bern Convention.
Source: “KyivVlada”
This initiative received support from both the city and regional councils. However, during the approval process with the Environmental Commission of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, issues began to arise – at times related to the StateGeoCadastre’s approval, at others to the development of the project itself.
“I suppose the problem was connected to the court disputes. Therefore, perhaps the department did not want to assume responsibility in this matter. So, as soon as we receive the full text of the Supreme Court’s ruling, we will petition the commission and the department to complete this procedure,” stated a representative of the Bucha City Council.
The Kyiv Regional Military Administration has already reported that the matter may be resolved in the near future.
“I hope that we will establish a nature reserve there. According to the procedure, this is handled by the Kyiv Regional Council, but we need a submission from the Kyiv Regional State Administration (KODA). Currently, there are delays – the administration has been slow in providing these documents. The substantiation and submission from the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center (KEKC) were ready back in 2024. If KODA is willing, we are ready to consider this issue at the next session,” emphasized Roman Tytikalo, Chairman of the Standing Environmental Commission of the Kyiv Regional Council.
EcoPolitic previously reported how much Kyiv spends on the development of parks and squares. It turns out that the largest investments are allocated to the Obolon district.
Recently, the Supreme Court confirmed reserve status for 16.5 ha of Protasiv Yar. Meanwhile, regarding the “Osokorky Eco-Park,” developers won in the Supreme Court.
