Petrol stations should not be located near residential buildings, — Riazhskykh
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- Yuliia BoichenkoReporter
The aftermath of the attack on a petrol station in Mykolaiv on 20 July 2026, photo by NikVestiAlla Ryazhskikh, a member of the Mykolaiv Regional Council and Chair of the Committee on Environmental Issues, Alla Riazhskykh, believes that the Russian strikes on petrol stations provide yet another argument against the construction of a petrol station in the green belt near the «Zoria»-«Mashproekt» factory.
She expressed this view during a broadcast on the MART TV channel.
According to her, the recent attacks have shown why such facilities must be sited in compliance with town planning regulations and sanitary protection zones.
«People are seriously and consistently defending their right to live next to a park, not an explosion-hazardous facility. Moreover, I think that after the incident at the petrol station, it became clear why urban planning rules must be followed and why safety zones must be maintained. I think there will be no more questions like this,» she said.
She also pointed out that the case concerning the development is currently before the court. The Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking to have the land lease agreement, concluded for the construction of the petrol station, declared invalid.
«The case is currently open, and the claim has even been referred to the commercial court. We expect the lease agreement to be terminated and the plot to be returned to the residents as it should be — in accordance with the Master Plan. And the Master Plan specifies that this is a recreational zone,» she added.
It should be noted that Russian troops continue to attack petrol stations in the Mykolaiv region. In particular, on 20 July, the Russians attacked Mykolaiv with strike drones, damaging two petrol station buildings.
As is known, the Mykolaiv District Prosecutor’s Office has applied to the Commercial Court to overturn the city council’s decision and declare the lease agreement for the land under the petrol station near «Zoria» — where oak trees are at risk of being felled — null and void. The prosecutor’s office is demanding that the land be returned and the unfinished building demolished.
Read also the article «Chief anti-corruption officer of Mykolaiv City Hall reports on «land fixers» in the city council and calls on prosecutors to challenge construction of green zone for petrol station»
The scandal surrounding the construction of the petrol station
It should be recalled that in 2024, the City Council initially approved the de facto renewal of the lease agreement for a 7,643-square-metre plot of land to the Lviv-based company «Svit Zdorovia», formally for the construction of a sports and wellness centre and the maintenance of administrative buildings. However, just two months after this decision, the city council approved a change in the designated use of the plot to the siting and operation of road service facilities. Both issues were tabled for consideration at the session as part of a «package» with other land-related matters and were adopted without debate.
The Specialised Environmental Prosecutor’s Office is currently investigating possible breaches of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure in a case relating to the project to build a petrol station at the junction of Bohoiavlenskyi Avenue and Kober Street in Mykolaiv.
This concerns the activities of «Svit Zdorovia» LLC, for which the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine had previously issued a favourable EIA opinion.
It should be noted that on 1 April, it emerged that «Svit Zdorovia» had, on its third attempt, successfully passed the public consultation process and obtained permission to build a petrol station complex with car service shops in the green belt near the «Zoria» factory in Mykolaiv, at the junction of Kober Street and Bohoiavlenskyi Avenue.
Also in April this year, Mykolaiv’s mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, refused to answer a question from NikVesti as to whether he supported the construction of a petrol station complex in the green belt on Bohoiavlenskyi Avenue. He emphasised that he was opposed to the felling of trees, but did not state his position on the construction of the petrol station itself.
Local residents held a meeting near the green space at the junction of Bohoiavlenskyi Avenue and Kober Street, where the petrol station complex is planned to be built.
Also on that day, the State Environmental Inspectorate carried out a survey of this green space, where the company «Svit Zdorovia» LLC plans to build the petrol station complex.
It should be noted that the environmental impact assessment report (EIA), on the basis of which «Svit Zdorovia» received approval to build a petrol station complex in Mykolaiv within the green space near residential buildings opposite the «Zoria»-«Mashproekt» factory, was signed by the Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture, Vitalii Kindrativ, who served as Deputy Head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration in 2016–2017.
In November 2025, readers of NikVesti drew attention to markings on the oak trees and expressed concern that the area might be cleared for the construction of a petrol station. Following this, environmentalists inspected the oak trees along Kober Street in Mykolaiv, near the «Zoria» factory. According to the inspectors’ findings, all the trees are in satisfactory condition, the markings were made haphazardly, and there are no grounds for felling them.
