Municipal enterprise Kyivteploenergo reports that work is continuing in the Teremky neighborhood to lay a backup heating main for the Teremky-1 and Teremky-2 residential areas; no new tree felling is taking place at the sites, the press service of the Kyiv City State Administration reported on Facebook on Monday.
"Information that appeared today in various media outlets regarding alleged new tree felling in Teremky is not true," the message reads.
It is noted that the backup heating main is intended to ensure heat supply to the residential areas in the event of an emergency or a shutdown of the combined heat and power (CHP) plant.
The heating network is being laid according to an optimized plan. This plan aims to preserve approximately 160 trees, while about ten trees are slated for removal. Other trees affected by the work will undergo crown trimming.
According to the agency, only excavation work is currently being carried out at the construction site: excavators are digging a trench, and a fence is being installed around the area.
On Monday, according to the Kyiv City State Administration, Teremky residents also arrived at the construction site, demanding that the work continue and that heat supply be guaranteed for the winter.
As previously reported, law enforcement officers on Monday secured the park area in the Teremky residential district (Holosiyivsky district of Kyiv)—where tree felling for the heating main had previously begun amidst protests from local residents—and are barring entry to the park grounds.
According to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, ten buses carrying police officers arrived at the park on Monday morning, and no one is being allowed to enter the grounds. Police transport vehicles have been spotted at the scene, and law enforcement officers have also blocked exits from nearby residential complexes.
As previously reported, the conflict in the Teremky neighborhood centers on the construction of a backup heating pipeline designed to ensure a reserve heat supply for 183 residential buildings, three medical facilities, and 18 schools and kindergartens in the event of an emergency shutdown at the CHPP-5 power plant. Within the construction corridor, the city plans to remove 662 trees—56 of which are slated for transplanting—as well as 70 shrubs, 16 of which are to be transplanted.
The construction cuts through a protective forest belt that predated the residential development and was specifically preserved during the area's construction to serve as a recreational zone. The trees marked for removal include dozens of oaks aged 60 to 120 years, over a hundred ash trees, and scores of pear, apple, acacia, maple, linden, hornbeam, poplar, willow, and chestnut trees, among other species. Some trees have already been destroyed. The Kyiv City State Administration maintains that the work is proceeding following an assessment of the vegetation and the receipt of necessary approvals, and that the area will be landscaped and replanted with new trees and shrubs once construction is complete.
Meanwhile, local residents are demanding documentation justifying the felling and are opposing the destruction of trees in the green zone. They also claim that between 2020 and 2025, over UAH 8 million was spent to develop multiple versions of a project plan to route the heating pipeline along a different path—specifically, beneath Teremkivska Street—commissioned by the municipal enterprise Kyivteploenergo. Residents also claim that the laying of a heating pipeline on the site of the tree belt may be linked to meeting the needs of new residential complexes being built nearby, as well as to the construction of an access road to them—a project previously planned along this same route but abandoned by city authorities following protests.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko later announced plans to plant large, mature trees to replace those cut down in the green zone. He stated that the heating pipeline’s route through that specific area was approved as part of a project that had passed state review, and that laying it under Teremkivska Street was impossible due to the alleged presence of existing sewage, water, and power lines.
On August 11, Teremky residents and city officials agreed to spend two weeks assessing whether a backup heating line could be routed differently to preserve the green zone's trees, while also establishing a two-week moratorium on tree felling. However, on September 1, Petro Panteleyev, First Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration, announced that the agreed-upon decision, following the meeting with residents, was to proceed with the original project and its designated engineering corridor—albeit while maximizing the preservation of greenery and incorporating public recommendations. It was claimed that the optimized construction plan would save approximately 160 trees, with only about ten slated for removal and others merely undergoing crown trimming.
On September 14, heavy machinery returned to the Teremky park area and work resumed. Activists claim the work is proceeding according to the original plan rather than the less intrusive route previously announced by the Kyiv City State Administration. Consequently, protests against the tree felling have reignited.
