Issue of exhuming soldiers’ bodies buried at National Military Memorial Cemetery requires broader discussion – Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center
The issue of exhuming soldiers buried at the National Military Memorial Cemetery (NMMC) requires broad discussion, taking into account the positions of all interested parties, stated Volodymyr Boreiko, director of the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center.
"This is a very complex issue. We can't resolve it. We believe it must be done with due consideration for everyone's interests: the military, the families of the victims, specialists, and so on. We're not saying anything about it. We're saying that it was a violation of the law [the construction of the NMMC], and that the cemetery could be destroyed by the forces of nature," he said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Boreiko also noted that the land on which the NMMC is located currently belongs to the Boyarka Forest Experimental Station, a separate division of the National University of Bioresources and Nature Management of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Victoria Chechenkova, a resident of Markhalivka, commenting on the statements of Anton Drobovych, former head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, confirmed that development on this territory had occurred earlier, even before the site was included in the Emerald Network.
"Yes, this is Emerald Network territory. But the problem is that the plots were distributed and development took place before this territory was included in the Emerald Network. Development took place in 2018-2020, and this plot was only included in the Emerald Network in December 2019. If you look at the maps, there was no development there in 2016-2017, because it's a lengthy process," she emphasized.
As reported, on August 29, 2025, a military burial ceremony for unknown soldiers was held at the NMMC, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attending. This ceremony honored fallen heroes, whose names have not yet been established. This marked the first burial on the memorial grounds. At the same time, Veterans Affairs Minister Natalia Kalmykova denied allegations that burials on the NMMC grounds were illegal.
At the end of January, the Supreme Court of Ukraine declared illegal the Kyiv Regional Military Administration's order No. 275 of March 14, 2024, regarding the transfer of the Markhalivskyi Forest to the NMMC state institution, upholding the previous decisions of the Kyiv District Administrative Court and the Sixth Appellate Administrative Court.
In the following days, some Ukrainian military personnel spoke out against the Supreme Court's decision, which ruled the transfer of the land for the memorial cemetery illegal. Specifically, social media posts appeared from the 1st Separate Assault Regiment of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, the successor to the legendary Da Vinci Wolves battalion; the Ukrainian Airborne Assault Forces Command; Robert (Madyar) Brovdi, Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces; the 82nd Separate Bukovyna Airborne Assault Brigade; the 1st Azov Corps of the National Guard; and veteran Yuriy Hudymenko, leader of the Democratic Axe movement.
On February 1, the State Institution NMMC stated that the Supreme Court's decision regarding the memorial cemetery pertains solely to certain points of the relevant order of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration and does not contain any orders to cease burials, close, or relocate the cemetery. They also noted that burials of defenders will not continue.
Anton Drobovych, former head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and director of the Center for Human Rights and War Memorialization at the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), states that reversing the decision to transfer land for the National War Memorial Cemetery will not resolve the disputed issues, as the cemetery already exists.
Commenting on the Supreme Court's decision on the Emerald Network, Veterans Affairs Minister Natalia Kalmykova noted that the burial sites of fallen defenders are inviolable.
The Emerald Network is a collection of territories protecting rare plant and animal species and their natural habitats. It was created in compliance with the Berne Convention (Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, 1979), which Ukraine ratified in 1996.
