Lake Vyrlitsa, located near Osokorki, is almost a third filled with sand and gravel.
This was mentioned in the X-Files story that aired on May 25.
The developer leased the lake back in 2005, but large-scale construction began later, when Kharkiv millionaire Alexander Yaroslavsky appeared on the company's list of owners.
( read more about him in the reference: Alexander Yaroslavsky: three marriages of the Kharkiv "king" )
"We're approaching beach season. Of course, our goal is to make these beaches safe so Kyiv residents can relax there. We're seeing unacceptable developments right now; soon we'll be unable to even access the water," comments Serhiy Kostyuk, Secretary of the Kyiv City Council's Environmental Commission.
Today, part of Lake Vyrlitsy is fenced off, and everything beyond it, seemingly a natural shore from a distance, is actually a sand and gravel embankment constructed several years ago. Following a lawsuit filed by the Kyiv prosecutor's office, the court ordered the developer (Yaroslavsky) to return the lake and land to the city, but fences and a guard post still stand on the shore.
City authorities are turning a blind eye to public outrage, assuring them there's no need to worry: the developer promised to improve the coastal area by building a shopping and entertainment center and a hotel on the lake's shore. Environmentalists believe the destruction of this small lake, Vyrlytsia, one of twenty that make up the Kyiv cascade of the Dnieper, is a crime against nature that could become an environmental tragedy for the region.
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