The Supreme Court of Ukraine will review the legality of the decisions made by the lower courts regarding the construction of the National Military Memorial Cemetery (NMMC) in the Kyiv region. Cassation proceedings have been initiated following a complaint by the NGO ‘Markhalivka. Support’ concerning the construction of the memorial in a forest belonging to the Emerald Network.
This was reported by the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Centre (KECC).
Back in January 2026, the Supreme Court of Ukraine ruled that the decisions of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, which had rezoned plots of the Markhalivka Forest for the construction of the NMM, were unlawful. However, work there continues to this day.
The court’s reasoning
In its ruling of 29 January 2026, the Supreme Court declared that the construction of the NVMC “is not a project that merely has the potential to have a significant impact on natural habitats, but constitutes a form of land use that is structurally and functionally incompatible with the aim of their conservation”.
The implementation of the project will effectively result in the loss of a valuable forest ecosystem, as the construction involves the felling of trees, changes to the terrain and hydrological regime, large-scale development, and the creation of engineering and transport infrastructure.
However, the Supreme Court’s ruling did not stop at declaring the construction of the memorial in the valuable forest to be unlawful. As early as 5 June 2026, the Commercial Court of Kyiv Region ruled to revoke the state registration of NMMC right to a 258.7-hectare plot of land, as the state institution does not hold the right of permanent use of this land.
“Local residents and environmental organizations oppose the placement of the NMMC within the Emerald Network, pointing to serious risks of destruction of valuable natural ecosystems and contamination of the aquifer, which supplies drinking water to thousands of inhabitants of the surrounding communities,” the KECC added.
It was only on June 9 that the destruction of a dam became known, which had previously been built to divert water away from the cemetery. EcoPolitic reported that this was only a matter of time for such a marshy area as the Markhalivka Forest.
This forest is part of the Emerald Network and is a valuable natural area. For a long time, activists and the community have tried in court to protect the local ecosystem from destructive human intervention, and the judicial system has repeatedly sided with the plaintiffs. The Cabinet of Ministers' decree on mass felling was declared illegal, as was the allocation of this territory for the NMMC by the Kyiv RMA.
The case has also attracted international attention. Recently, the Bureau of the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention issued another set of demands to Ukraine to resolve this situation. A year ago, the Council of Europe also voiced criticism regarding the construction of the NMMC.
