Novopokrovka Settlement Community

Olena Slabinska was elected Head of the Novopokrovka settlement territorial community. Under her leadership, 10 villages and settlements of the community, which were part of 4 different settlement councils before the decentralization reform, were united for the first time.Olena Slabinska was born on July 15, 1975 in the settlement of Eskhar, Chuhuyiv district, Kharkiv region. Before being elected Settlement Head, she worked as the Director of the Eskhar preschool educational institution.The community is only 2 years old and it already shows an example of resilience during active hostilities! Work in the community did not stop for a minute. Almost 20,000 people live in the community and there are already more than 7,500 internally displaced persons who need support every day.

The delivery of bread to the villages and settlements of the community was organized  on the first days of the war. People were not left alone with their problems – issues of providing humanitarian aid were resolved every day.Almost all residents of the community stayed here and met the war cohesively. About 8,000 internally displaced persons were received. Our medical workers work against all odds. Even though our dispensaries and first-aid stations suffered enemy attacks, roofs were damaged and windows were broken, and there is no heating, the reception of patients has not been suspended.Development Strategy

After Ukraine’s victory in the war, the community plans to return to pre-war strategic plans. In particular, they dream of implementing new cluster development projects. This includes the creation of

• an agricultural cooperative
• a processing enterprise,

which will receive the products grown by the peasants and release them to the market in the form of frozen, dried or canned food products. In order to survive in the difficult post-war conditions, the residents of the community must unite to resist the middlemen and provide themselves with work. From time immemorial, ecologically clean vegetables have been grown in open and covered soils in every household of the Novopokrovka community. Our people know the cultivation technology perfectly, keep it a secret and, like a great treasure, pass the knowledge from generation to generation. The eating qualities of fresh and salted vegetables grown on the territory of the community villages and settlements are known far beyond the borders of Ukraine.

The Novopokrovka grain processing plant has been operating in the community for many years, producing high-class flour, but only during the war did we feel the need for our own bakery. Because it was very difficult to find and deliver bread to the people, this process of giving out bread under shelling and explosions was actually heroic. Therefore, we well understand how important it is to have not only a flour producer on our territory, but also a bakery that could meet the needs of local residents. And, of course, in addition to development plans, we have to rebuild damaged and destroyed infrastructure facilities on the territory of the community.

We hope to restore the operations of the power plant in the settlement of Eskhar, because it is a township of power men – almost the entire settlement worked at the plant providing heat to social and residential facilities, producing electricity for the entire country.

A lot of expectations are placed on the development of sports. The construction of a physical culture and health complex was started in the settlement of Novopokrovka before the war and it is planned to be completed in post-war times.

Also we have great hopes for the development of ecotourism. The future creation of tourist routes in a combination with industrial, spiritual, wildlife and ecological tourism will attract the attention of tourists as the large metropolis of Kharkiv is only 20 kilometres away.

The Novopokrovka community will gladly establish long-term partnerships with international partners.

The war with the aggressor continues. The enemy repeatedly attacked and still attacks the community with missiles and multiple-launch rocket systems. As a result, critical community infrastructure and residential buildings were damaged.

The village of Eskhar suffered the greatest damage. The Russian army destroyed two schools. The central heating and power plant also came under enemy fire. The enterprise used to supply heat to kindergartens, a hospital and 82 residential buildings. It is impossible to restore the equipment of the heat supply organization under martial law. The railway tracks were damaged due to rocket attacks, which made it impossible to deliver coal to the heat-generating enterprise. To date, the residents of the village have remained in a critical situation without heating during the cold seasons.The buildings of the Eskhar Lyceum were destroyed by rocket strikes. 5,396 permanent residents as well as 1,055 internally displaced persons who live in Eskhar are left without a general secondary education institution. This educational institution was a model for the communities of Chuhuyiv region. The lyceum is included in Ukraine’s 200 best schools. Its pupils show a high level of knowledge of the Ukrainian Language, Literature and other subjects.

The educational institutions of the community suffered the most damage during the military operations in Ukraine: 2 buildings of the Eskhar Lyceum were destroyed, there are no windows or doors in the Novopokrovka Base Lyceum, the Eskhar Preschool (nursery and kindergarten) and the Stara Pokrovka Lyceum have no windows.

The dispensary of Novopokrovka needs special attention. During the autumn-winter period, the morbidity of the population increases, in particular, with COVID-19. Therefore, it is extremely important to ensure the provision of medical services to the population of the settlement in comfortable conditions. Today, the windows of the dispensary are broken and the roof is damaged which is a result of rocket fire. Medical workers are working against all odds; the reception of citizens has not been suspended. They have covered the windows with film and continue to treat people.

Novopokrovka is a both agricultural and industrial community.

The local economy is based on five leading companies: a grain processing complex, a reinforced concrete structures plant, a thermal power plant, an oil and gas production company, companies that grow mushrooms and an automotive assembly company that assembles Foton cars in Ukraine. 

The Novopokrovka Grain Processing Complex is one of the largest grain processing enterprises in Ukraine, which is engaged in the production of flour and fodder. The company is almost fully automated and uses unique production technologies.The company started its activity in 2010. Since then, we have expanded significantly and turned from a small local oyster mushroom producer into a modern, automated factory that grows eryngo mushrooms.

The factory has the cutting-edge foreign equipment and its own laboratory, which carries out biological control of raw materials and examines the quality of finished products before sale.

Importantly, production has not been suspended even during war. After all, entrepreneurs are convinced that food production is a strategic task.