The City of Kupiansk

During the Russian-Ukrainian war, two people from Kupiansk were posthumously awarded the title of Heroes of Ukraine – Vitalii Movchan and Oleksandr Makarenko.M.S. Syadristyi is a famous contemporary from Kupiansk. The works of the master of microminiatures are known all over the world, but few people know that Mykola Serhiyovych was born in the Kupiansk area.The fate of the following outstanding personalities of the past was connected with Kupiansk.

Professor Mykola Ovksentiyovych Valyashko (1871-1955), organizer and first director of the Kharkiv Pharmaceutical Institute, and honoured scientist, was born in our city.

Illia Illich Mechnikov, a famous biologist and Nobel Prize laureate, was born in the Kupiansk District.

During his stay in the Kupiansk area, the outstanding Ukrainian playwright, director and actor Marko Lukych Kropyvnytskyi staged plays.

The famous Ukrainian writer H.F. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko left the people of Kupiansk the story “Kupiansk impostor” about a soldier who pretended to be Tsar Peter III.

The nature of Kupiansk area inspired the Ukrainian philosopher and writer Hryhoriy Savych Skovoroda, and humorist P.M. Hubenko, better known as Ostap Vyshnia, wrote his works here.

It is still impossible to calculate the damage caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war in Kupiansk, because the city has been under continuous shelling for 8 months after the deoccupation. According to preliminary estimates, 30% of the community have been destroyed. Lyceums, gymnasiums, shopping centres, manufacturing enterprises, cultural and sports institutions have suffered the greatest destruction.Russians occupied Kupiansk on February 27, 2022. Despite the absence of military clashes, the city was restless. On March 1, locals went to the rally, but the occupiers used tear gas and kidnapped the main organizer and activist. His further fate is still unknown. During the period of occupation, other men in the city, including people of retirement age, also went missing.

In Kupiansk, communication and the Internet disappeared, and people found themselves face to face with the occupiers under the full influence of Russian propaganda. The route to the free territory was closed, and all business leaders and socially active citizens who stayed in Kupiansk occasionally ended up in the “basement”.Torture was used to force people to disclose their acquaintances with a pro-Ukrainian position. The number of those who were in the basement is not known for certain, because during the process of deoccupation the documents of the Russians were burned.

In May 2022, stores and pharmacies ran out of Ukrainian goods, so they began to be imported from unrecognized republics, the so-called DPR and LPR. Everything was very expensive and completely tasteless. People were rescued by local businesses. In the form of humanitarian aid, stocks of own products were distributed at reduced prices to people of socially vulnerable categories.The evacuation route to Ukraine opened only in June 2022. People had to walk three kilometres across the Pecheneg dam. To get there from Kupiansk, they had to go through 10 Russian checkpoints with full checks and pay up to 1,000 hryvnias per person for a taxi. But people took risks, because they did not have the strength to withstand the occupation. No one kept records of those who evacuated, because people left in their own cars through Russia to the Baltic countries and Poland to return to Ukraine. The Kupiansk-Kharkiv route was covered in 7 days by the people of Kupiansk.

After the deoccupation of the city, the Ukrainian authorities returned to the “desert”. Andrii Besedin was appointed the head of the Kupiansk military administration. 

The population on the territory was identified together with volunteers who daily supported the people of Kupiansk and brought humanitarian goods to Kupiansk.Then, critical infrastructure enterprises started to resume their work. After two months, households of Kupiansk started to have electricity again. Gas supply was also restored. Although not at full capacity, the heating system was working. Specialists restored communication and were working on laying the Internet network.

As of the second half of February 2023, the Kupiansk urban community has been electrified by 98%, gasified by 99%, and water supply and sewerage communications have been restored by 95%. However, after frequent hits from the Russian side, it is necessary to promptly eliminate their consequences.

City routes have been restored in the community and transport links with the regional centre have been established. On February 20, three lyceums started the educational process remotely. 

As part of the priority areas of activity and tasks, the following work is planned to be carried out:

1. Demining the territory
2. Development of a city reconstruction plan
3. Creation of conditions for the return of residents and businesses to the community
4. Modernization and reconstruction of housing and communal services

• Use of alternative sources of heating
• Thermal modernization of buildings
• Arrangement of a landfill and construction of a waste processing plant
• Modernization of the water supply and sewage system
• Landscaping of the territory
• Repair of roads

1. Optimization of educational institutions
2. Resumption of work of cultural and sports institutions
3. Creation of conditions for affordable medical services
4. Support of citizens who have lost their jobs and their involvement in the reconstruction of the city