Alina Mykhaylova, head of the medical service of the Ulf unit of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion, together with Kyiv City Council deputy Kseniya Semenova, are initiating the disbandment of Kyiv’s municipal organisation Municipal Guard for the duration of martial law.
She wrote about this in a post on her Facebook page.
The trigger was a dispute over the construction of a backup heating main in Teremky, where employees of the municipal enterprise forcibly pushed residents back. According to one Kyiv resident, she injured her arm during the clashes; the police are already looking into the circumstances.
Mykhaylova stressed that she supports building the heating main the district needs, but criticised the Kyiv City State Administration for failing to engage in dialogue with people and for using municipal security forces against residents. She emphasised that public order should be ensured by the National Police, while the Municipal Guard has effectively turned into a private enforcement tool of Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko.
In Mykhaylova’s view, spending money to maintain a structure with a staff of up to 1,600 people during a full-scale war is unjustified. The co-initiator of the decision proposes transferring genuinely important functions—such as guarding critical infrastructure facilities—to the relevant specialised services, and also creating a transparent veterans’ council to genuinely protect the interests of veterans who currently work within this structure.
What Is Known About the Situation in Teremky and the Heating Main Construction
- In recent days, information emerged that construction work has resumed at the site where trees were felled in Teremky. The police were guarding the park from protesters, activists from Green Teremky said on their page.
- The community considers the work illegal; earlier this month, the Kyiv City State Administration warned that around 10 more trees would still have to be cut down.
- Suspilne reported that representatives of the Municipal Guard tried to forcibly remove protesters from the protest site.
- The new heating main in Holosiyivskyy district is needed for the Teremky-1 and Teremky-2 housing estates. The Kyiv City State Administration explained that the work requires removing some trees, but after construction is completed the area will be “fully restored, landscaping will be carried out, and new trees and other greenery will be planted”.
- They planned to cut down 662 trees, including some more than a hundred years old. Only 56 can be transplanted.
- The new heating network will create a backup heat supply scheme in the event that CHP-5 is shut down.
- Some Kyiv residents opposed the decision and staged a protest. They stressed that under the 2023 plan the heating main was to be laid not through the park, but beneath Teremkivska Street.
- On 11 September, the Kyiv City State Administration announced changes to the network project and a reduction in the number of trees they plan to destroy. Under the new scheme, around 160 trees are to remain.
- After a meeting between the community and representatives of the Kyiv City State Administration, activists reported that the authorities plan to implement the heating main under the original project, but with the intention of preserving the trees that remained after the first felling.