OLESHKY TERRITORIAL COMMUNITY

The Oleshky Territorial Community was under temporary occupation from the first hours of the full-scale invasion.

Convoys of military equipment of the aggressor country entered the territory of the town of Oleshky at around 10 o’clock in the morning. Enemy missiles attacked military facilities and critical infrastructure facilities.For several days, fierce battles took place in the territory of the community for the Antoniv Bridge and the regional centre – the city of Kherson.

The residents of the Oleshky area suffered from destruction caused by blast waves and the impact of projectile fragments.The feat of the residents of the Oleshky community who came to the “Oleshky is Ukraine” rally will never be forgotten.On 08 March 2022, risking their own lives and freedom, protesters marched side by side with the community leaders through the streets of the town to protest against the occupation.

Subsequently, many participants of the rally were subjected to terrible abuse and repression by the occupying forces.Starting from 11 November 2022, after the liberation of the Right Bank of the Kherson Region, the Left Bank, including the Oleshky Territorial Community, has been constantly under merciless shelling by enemy artillery, tanks and mortars.Every day there are reports about injured or killed residents of the Oleshky Community, and the infrastructure of the community is being destroyed. Schools, kindergartens, cultural centres, and other civilian facilities have been damaged. As a result of the destruction, communication, Internet and electricity are almost constantly unavailable.The blowing up of the Kakhovka HPP by the russian occupying forces was a true genocide for the occupied Oleshky Community. After the dam was blown up, water from the reservoir gushed down the Dnipro and flooded the settlements below. Most of the houses in Oleshky found themselves completely under water. The occupying authorities did not provide any support to the people who remained under occupation, which caused mass drownings among the inhabitants.

Unfortunately, the exact number of victims has not been established to date because the invaders hide it in every way. Judging by the messages of the community residents in social media, the number of victims is very, very high and may be established after the liberation of Left Bank Ukraine.

The first mention of the town of Oleshky dates back to 1084. The route “From the Vikings to the Greeks” and the “Silk Road” passed through the town.

In the early 18th century, after the destruction of the Kamiana Sich by moscow troops, which was the main fortress of the Ukrainian Zaporizhia Cossacks, the Cossacks had to retreat to the land of the Crimean Khan. This is how the new Oleshky Sich led by Kish Otaman Kost Hordienko was founded in Oleshky. It was there that the first Constitution in Europe was implemented, drawn up by Hetman Pylyp Orlyk 80 years earlier than the French Constitution.The community’s visit card is the unique Oleshky Sands – the second largest desert in Europe. This is why it is nicknamed the Ukrainian Sahara.

The total area of the national park is 1,600 km2. The territory spreads 150 km from the south to the north and 30 km from the west to the east.

This is a place with a thousand-year history, where archaeological landmarks from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the late Middle Ages are still found because the lands there were inhabited for thousands of years by the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Polovtsians, Khazars, Antis, Slavs, Ukrainians.

Three ecological hiking routes were developed in the territory of the reserve, permitting to get acquainted with the nature and the history of the area better.The nature there is really diverse as there is not only a desert, but also areas with grassy vegetation, pine forests, thickets. The desert is surrounded by 120 thousand hectares of the largest man-made pine forest in Europe with unique flora and fauna. The first trees near Oleshky were planted in the 1970s and 1980s to protect the town from sands.

Prior to the full-scale invasion, the town authorities, along with activists and caring people, regularly organized campaigns to plant young pine trees, and the grown-up forest was a favourite place for walks, recreation and mushroom hunting for the residents of Southern Ukraine.And among the loose sands and forests there are unique swamps: lowlands of alder groves flooded with water, which provide a pleasant coolness, freshness of the wind, moist air and bright greenery.There is a wonderful house in Oleshky, all covered with pictures. At the age of 69, Oleshky resident Polina Raiko picked up a brush and created her fairy tale world in her yard. Amazing paintings on the walls and ceiling create an incredible impression: angels, fairy-tale birds and strange flowers live there.

This house can be called a real unofficial museum. Despite the fact that it is still in private ownership, hundreds of tourists come to see the amazing works of art blooming on the walls of the old house. The first museum of naïve art in Ukraine, one of the areas of primitivism, is planned to be created in Polina Raiko’s house.