State policy in the field of memorializing the war is only taking shape. On August 29 this year, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed the law “On the Principles of State Memory Policy of the Ukrainian People.” The document enshrines categories such as the definition of national memory, the official name of the Russian-Ukrainian war, defines the responsibilities of authorities, the structure of memory policy and the obligation to create a state memory strategy. And this is only a framework for future processes. A law on war memorials is still ahead.
However, communities already have a demand for the creation of memorial spaces. At present they effectively act intuitively — consulting with specialists, analyzing practices from other cities and making decisions based on the needs of residents.
For communities in the Kherson region these processes are considerably more difficult due to the security situation. Nevertheless, there are successful examples despite everything. One of them is the Novoraiska community, where at the beginning of November an Alley of Glory to the fallen heroes was opened.
The concept was developed by the staff of the Novoraiska village council through consultations with local residents. The head of the territorial community, Mykola Chystikov, notes that the site was chosen immediately — in the center of Novoraiska, and all ideas were formed in the course of the work.
«Actually, this idea had been nurtured for some time. Work began while the previous head of the military administration, Oleksandr Shokurov, was still alive (previously the head of the Novoraiska SVA was Oleksandr Shokurov. He held the position since October 2022. In September 2024 Shokurov passed away. In December he was awarded the Order “For Merit” III degree). I only continued this plan», – says Chystikov.
The alley consists of banners with photographs of fallen servicemen and a short biography of each. The cost of the installation amounted to slightly more than 200 thousand hryvnias. The work was carried out by employees of the municipal utility enterprise, the village council and participants of socially useful work (the so-called “Army of Restoration”).
The security situation in the Novoraiska community, as in any other corner of the Kherson region, remains difficult. However, the authorities still decided to install the memorial. According to Mykola Chystikov, the decision was dictated by residents’ demand — they want the stories of the fallen defenders to become known now.
«There are 2,100 people living in the Novoraiska community. Some leave; some return because they did not find themselves elsewhere. We already have 16 fallen heroes, eight of whom have state awards. Twenty-one soldiers are considered missing. We understand that arranging the alley under current conditions carries the risk of it being damaged by the enemy. But we are ready for such scenarios, because people already want the defenders’ stories to become known. We have preliminary agreements with organizations for the rapid production of banners and the procurement of necessary materials in case they are damaged. I realize that this is an additional burden on the budget, but honoring the memory of fallen servicemen must be a priority. In addition, a number of measures have been carried out that cannot yet be spoken about publicly», – the official emphasizes.
The community plans to create a Memorial to the memory of fallen civilians. At the moment the project has been suspended due to constant shelling.
«Even when we began work on the Alley of Glory, the security situation was completely different. It is much more difficult now. We considered suspending these works as well, but of course we decided to complete them because there are families of the deceased to whom we feel responsible. As for the Memorial to the memory of civilians, it is planned in a similar format. There are 18 people in the community who died as a result of Russian shelling. Their memory must also be immortalized”, – notes Mykola Chystikov.
The community also preserves the memory of the dead by supporting their families — financially, and also with building materials and labor in case of damage caused by enemy attacks. Every morning at 9:00 a minute of silence is declared in the community. Schools hold meetings with veterans, memory lessons and other educational events — of course, when the security situation allows and only in safe places.
Arranging alleys, installing monuments, banners, yellow-and-blue flags on slopes or hills, memorial plaques, graffiti – all of this is part of the memorialization of the ongoing war.
The number of dead is increasing, shelling does not cease, people continue to lose their homes. That is why the process of forming a unified concept for honoring the memory of the dead is so complex, and the state and individual communities still have this path to go. In the next materials of the series we will tell how other communities in the deoccupied part of the Kherson region are coping with this.
Photo from the Novoraiska Hromada page