The new Ukrainian National Military Memorial Cemetery (NMMC) has opened south of Kyiv. On Aug. 29, the Day of Remembrance of Ukraine’s defenders, the first six burials of temporarily unknown (unidentified) defenders of Ukraine took place.
A video of the opening was published by President Volodymyr Zelensky on his Facebook page.
The design has been compared to the Arlington National Cemetery in the US. It has an area of several hundred hectares and is designed for 136,000 burials over the next few decades.
Journalist and observer Iehor Shumikhin who was present at the first burials, wrote on his Facebook page:
“Construction has been completed on the first stage of the memorial cemetery. In particular, 6,000 places have been prepared (in total up to 120-130,000 places will be provided). Two columbaria have also been built, a parking lot has been arranged, utility networks have been laid, a traffic interchange and an access road have been built…
“Forty trees have already been planted, and in total an alley of one hundred lindens is envisaged. The next six stages include architectural and sculptural competitions for such structures as: a museum and exhibition complex, a chapel, the Central Memorial in honor of the Defenders and other monumental structures.”
However, protests from some local residents could not be avoided. Locals are concerned that the cemetery will be located close to their villages, which, in their opinion, may cause contamination of wells. In addition, they are concerned about the high level of groundwater in this area.
