Five regions will begin designing branches of the National War Memorial Cemetery next year

In 2027, Ukraine plans to begin designing five regional branches of the National War Memorial Cemetery.

Minister of Veterans Affairs Vitaliy Kim said this during a presentation of the departmentʼs work priorities, Suspilne reports.

Currently, eight regions have proposed their own land plots for such cemeteries: Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Traanscarpathia, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv.

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs is to evaluate these sites and then select five locations. The budget for 2027 has already provided money for the design of five branches. The construction itself will begin after all the design documentation is prepared.

The branches will be state-owned and will operate according to uniform rules — with the same standards for burials and grave decoration.

What is known about the National War Memorial Cemetery?

The state memorial complex for the burial and commemoration of the fallen Ukrainian defenders was opened on August 29, 2025 in the Kyiv region — between the villages of Hatne and Markhalivka. On that day, the first five servicemen, whose names remain unknown, were buried there.

The construction of the memorial cemetery has been repeatedly criticized by local residents, activists, and environmentalists. They claimed that the chosen site in the Kyiv region has a high groundwater level, which could cause the graves to flood. Activists said it could pose a threat to 12 surrounding villages. On the day the cemetery opened, residents of Markhalivka protested against its location.

At the same time, the cemetery administration rejected these accusations. They stated that the groundwater level was taken into account during the design, and burial sites are being arranged on higher grounds where they are not threatened by flooding.

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