Donetsk’s greenery withering away

Recently the head of the Donetsk regional state administration Anatolii Blyzniuk made a shocking declaration: over 30 percent of trees on the territory of the Donetsk region (these are mainly artificial plantations) already outlived their biological age. The governor reminded people that in Soviet times there were several dozen enterprises specializing in seed grain cultivation for the purpose of renewing greenery. None of them is left. New commercial structures have only just started creating their new seed plots.

Nature is not the main foe of greenery in the heavily industrialized “miners’ capital.” Strange as it may seem, it is the local authorities who are up in arms against the vital city flora that they are supposed to protect.

The Donetsk community is currently holding protest rallies, provoked by the destruction of the Shcherbakov Park — perhaps the city’s last, until recently, untouched large-scale park. According to Serhii Denysenko, a coordinator of the non-governmental organization Donetsk Ecological Movement, developers have already illegally cut down hundreds of trees in order to clear the territory for the construction of a water park complex.

“Everything is legal there,” states Oleksandr Lukianchenko, the mayor of Donetsk, “We observed the procedure in this issue.”

It is true that Donetsk lacks such an object, as even the opponents of the construction project agree. It is not normal that a city with over a million inhabitants still has no facilities that can be used for bathing. However, they should have looked for another location. Especially given the historical context. Shcherbakov Park was planted by enthusiasts on the bare clay slopes of a neglected ravine. These enthusiasts then took care of weak little trees for a long time, preventing them from succumbing to heat or drought.

In addition, an elite hotel has been recently planned to be built along with the sport-recreation complex on the green territory of the park, which provoked a new wave of indignation among the city’s citizens. The mayor abstains from commenting on this issue. A little earlier, a commercial dolphinarium was located there. However, it failed to provide the complete package of licensing documents to public organizations for examination.

The green islets of Donestk have been under attack for many years. The largest site, the Lenin Komsomol Park, became the first victim: the city’s executive branch allotted this territory to Rinat Akhmetov for the construction of a new soccer stadium “Donbas Arena.” Perhaps one can still find on Shakhtar’s website the first sketch of the approved project, where the building of the 50-thousand sport arena accurately fits the park’s panorama. But when Turkish builders removed protective temporary fences after finishing the work, it turned out that nothing was left of the old paths and cozy nooks. Scarce exotic trees bought from abroad for a few hundred euros each surrounded the broad square that has replaced the park.

The city leaders without hesitation sacrificed one more popular green nook for the sake of big sport. Privileged Donetsk VIP-developers became interested in the Peremoha public garden near the Kalmius River long ago. The fact that the public garden was established to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War and each tree was dedicated to a specific veteran stopped them. Nevertheless, the magic abbreviation of the Euro-2012 turned out to be stronger than common sense and basic respect for the past.

At present the Peremoha public garden is being gradually destroyed: workers with chainsaws arrive unexpectedly, on holidays or weekends, and start deftly felling trees and putting up fences. Residents of surrounding buildings, experienced from previous cases like this, immediately gather and turn out the intruders. They take their tools and leave without much argument. The next day supporters of the public garden picket the city hall. As a rule, an official who comes out to protesters starts with reproaches: you are hindering the construction of a new object for the Euro-2012 soccer championship. However, in order to soothe the crowd, he promises to examine the issue and for the time being suspend the work on the potential construction site. And then the story repeats itself.

The so-called Obkom garden vanished from the city map in a similar way; the small recreation areas near the Continent shopping center, Kalynova Ravine and Kyiv Avenue became even smaller.

It is even worse when the “green lungs” of the city are destroyed to allegedly serve spiritual goals. When Donetsk citizens learned that the authorities alloted a part of the Gorky central square for the construction of a new orthodox cathedral, they received this news without enthusiasm but with some understanding: the Soviet “fighters against the opium of the masses” razed the former big stone church in Donetsk in the 1930s. However, now an elegant three-story building covered by shiny roofing iron is promptly erected near the cathedral. As workers unofficially admit, this is a new eparchy building of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).

And then, as if with some blessing, numerous stores, small shops and a big restaurant penetrated what was before a forest reserve. By the way, the restaurant, in view of the forecast for a long Indian summer, hastily organized an outdoor eating area. It seems they did not know that it was located on one of the city’s former graveyards.