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Khmelnytskyi

Khmelnytskyi is situated in the Western Ukraine at the confluence of the Buh and its tributary the Ploska, roughly halfway between Lviv and Kyiv. According to the chronicles, Khmelnytskyi was founded in 1493 and was named Ploskyriv. Until 1954 it was called Proskuriv, and then it was renamed to honour hetman B. Khmelnytskyi.

In the Ukrainian part of the Polish state, the introduction ofserfdom in the 16th century led to the emergence of a phenomenon called Cossacks. The Orthodox Zaporozhian Sich gained strength as a political power and pursued an independent policy of shifting alliances with powers other than Poland. This became intolerable for the latter and provoked attempts at suppression. The subsequent Cossacks’ rebellion in the middle of the 17th century under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytsky was victorious, but the Cossacks failed to secure an independent state, choosing instead in 1654 to join Moscow’s Orthodox Tsar, on the condition that they preserve a confederate status and internal self-rule.

The total area of the city is 52 km2. Its population is 241 000. Khmelnytskyi is the city of science and education. There are a lot of higher educational institutions, planning organisations and 6 technical secondary schools. There are lots of monuments to the soldiers who died during the Second World War. People who live in Khmelnytskyi are proud of the monuments to T. Shevchenko and B. Khmelnytskyi.

Machine building industry and electrical industry predominate in Khmelnytskyi. The enterprises produce various machines, thermoplastics machinery, auto and tractor parts, furniture, footwear, and chemical products. Khmelnytskyi is also the city of theatres and museums. A Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre, a puppet theatre, and a philharmonic orchestra are very popular among the people. Many tourists visit a museum of regional studies, the H. Vereisky Memorial Museum.

A famous graphic artist was born here. Khmelnytskyi is a very modern city and it is green. There are two parks and the Botanical Gardens there. The city is a railway junction. There are also two bus stations and an airport in the city.

Khmelnytskyi oblast was far enough to the west of Kyiv that by April 2022 it hadn’t shelled like some other areas of Ukraine. But there were hundreds of thousands of refugees in the area. GoU authorities organized buses and trains to evacuate residents to cities west of Kherson, including Khmelnytskyi, Kryvyi Rih, Mykolayiv, and Odesa, according to international media.

The Ukrainian ethnographic area in the 17th century was virtually surrounded by the powerful and hostile principality of Muscovy, the Polish kingdom, and the Ottoman Empire. Because of these geopolitical realities, the Cossacks resorted repeatedly to tactical alliances that sooner rather than later broke down, usually at the Cossacks' expense. As a result, throughout their active existence as a martial class, the Ukrainian Cossacks fought for and against the Poles, Russians, Tatars, and Turks. The Cossacks had some military successes, notably the defeat of two Polish armies in 1648 by hetman (leader) Khmelnyts’ky, but they lost steadily on the political front.

Kmelnyts’ky's rule (1647-57) was in many ways the golden age of Ukrainian Cossackdom. With the defeat of the Poles, while in a tactical alliance with the Tatars, the hetman and his associates began to see Ukraine as an independent Cossack state. Under Khmelnyts’ky, a system of government and state finances was established, a local administration under a new governing elite drawn from Cossack officers was created, and relations with foreign states were initiated.

The Ukrainian Cossack heritage remained a potentially powerful, and therefore forbidden, force in Soviet-ruled Ukraine. Rather than narrowly representing the Cossack way of life, this heritage came to represent for antiregime activists the idea of Ukrainian self-determination and independence. The western Ukrainians historically had few links with the Cossacks.

During the Soviet years, Khmelnytsky region was one of the leaders in the concentration of military units, warehouses, missile sites, etc. on its territory. What did about a hundred silos for ballistic missiles cost? In the nuclear shield strategy that had sunk into oblivion, Podillya was assigned a decisive role in many ways. But even after the destruction of the missile infrastructure, when Khmelnitsky ceased to be the most explosive place on Earth, no one is in a hurry to give the palm of the powder keg of the planet to anyone. Today it is said there is one of the highest concentrations of conventional explosives in Europe.

The quality of the dismantling of military facilities raises doubts. Despite the peppy reports of the military that nothing dangerous can remain after their raids, something prevented people from believing in it sacredly. In the fall of 2000, sensational news spread around Khmelnitsky: in the Derazhnyansky district, where the density of missile silos, by the way, was one of the largest in Ukraine, a burial ground was unearthed! The threat of radioactive and toxic contamination due to the dismantling of rocket launchers immediately found a lively response among the population, provoking a slight panic. After all, the events in Pervomaisk had not yet been forgotten, where people suffered because of the contamination of the territory with extremely toxic rocket fuel.

Events in the Nikolaev region only confirmed the worst fears. Everyone understood that the complex technical operation of dismantling the silos in the conditions of habitual mismanagement and poverty was unlikely to go without a hitch, as the military claimed. On the contrary, it is easier to believe in the assumption that a large number of delayed-action mines were buried in the ground, ready to explode at any moment.

The situation with the excavated Derazhnya burial ground cleared up quickly. As it turned out, in 1979, when there was an active construction of new and dismantling of old missile silos, part of the unnecessary metal structures, in order to save money, were simply taken out of the perimeter and buried. And 20 years later, the peace of one of these burials, located 200 meters from the former missile point, was violated by metal hunters. They dug up three pieces of iron with a total weight of about 100 tons. And everything would have gone smoothly, but, unfortunately, the diggers did not know that barrels and plastic bags with stocks of expired pesticides and mineral fertilizers from the local collective farm were dumped into the same pit, with the same noble goal of saving money.

Disturbed by the excavations and flooded with groundwater, the chemicals began to emit a terrible stench. Alarmed residents of the surrounding villages sent a letter to Governor Lundyshev, and soon emergency workers and environmentalists arrived at the scene. Radioactivity and traces of especially dangerous toxic contamination were not found then, but the noise was great. The ominous phrase "burial ground" greatly frightened suspicious citizens. But in the confusion, few people paid attention to the information that there are hundreds of such burial grounds in the region, and most of their contents had already been scrapped.

And here is another story that happened in February 2001. Then, not far from the blown up missile silo, a resident of the village of Kolyban, Khmelnytsky region, found a strange metal object of incomprehensible purpose. The zealous owner, guided by the principle "it will fit in the household", dragged him into the yard of his house. Upon closer examination of the NVO (an unidentified object lying around), the man saw a sign: “Caution. Radioactivity.". Arriving Ministry of Emergency Situations really recorded radioactive radiation from the found object.

The search for the owner of this objecy began. And not so much in order to punish for criminal carelessness, but in order to hang on him the disposal of a dangerous object. After all, a specialized Kiev company "Radon" is engaged in such operations, the services of which cost more than one thousand hryvnias. It was most logical to assume that the radioactive blank belonged to the military. However, they washed their hands, declaring that the missile shaft was dismantled in accordance with all the rules - this is the conclusion of the commission; property destroyed or written off - these are the acts, and, finally, part is disbanded - these are the witnesses.

In search of the "extreme" they even started talking about the fact that now let the peasant himself take the rap, having dragged the blank to his house. Say, he is to blame: there was nothing to call the Ministry of Emergency Situations. In the end, after long disputes, the "funeral" costing 2.5 thousand hryvnia was paid for by the Khmelnitsky regional administration. No one will be surprised if the next time someone brings out an atomic bomb and it also does not have an owner, the public commented on that case in approximately the same way. And the funny thing is that the bomb was really found, though not yet atomic, but oh-oh-oh-very big.

Today, of course, no one is particularly surprised by reports of finds of shells and bombs from the Second World War. And what can one say about a one and a half ton bomb of the 1950s, discovered on the outskirts of the small village of Karniimovka in the Starokonstantinovsky district? And because of the unhealthy curiosity of local residents, she could well take off, If this happened, then, as the sappers say, a crater 10 meters deep would form, and fragments would cover not only Karniimovka, but also the neighboring large village of Vesnyanka.

And this story began with a phone call from an unknown person to the Starokonstantinovsky district police department. Anonymous reported that there was a bomb in the yard of the house of a certain Andrei G. in the village of Karniimovka. And indeed, the operatives who arrived at the scene found a 75-kilogram aerial bomb! To the question "What is it?" the owner of the house, previously convicted, a big fan of moonshine, answered evasively: “I didn’t serve in the army, I don’t know.” The simpler question was: "Where?" It turned out that the bomb was brought to him by a local farmer Anatoly with his assistant Vladimir. They also had to answer questions from the police.

On January 23, Anatoly, having collected scrap metal in his household, went with Vladimir to Starokonstantinov. Passing by the former bomb depot, the travelers saw a bomb right by the road, which, as they thought, someone had dragged closer to the road to pick it up later. So the friends decided not to give the unknown amateur sapper such an opportunity - on the way back they threw a dangerous load on their cart. Having dropped him in the courtyard of the house of a mutual friend Andrei, they began to think what to do with him now?

Since the recycling centers do not accept such cargo, they decided to disfigure the bomb beyond recognition with autogenous. But what about explosives?.. For advice, they turned to a fellow villager, a former warrant officer, and now a pensioner. Having examined the find, he said that he would undertake to free the noble metal from TNT without any problems. The operation was scheduled for January 26th. But exactly how it was supposed to go, no one really knows. It is only known that the day before the company showed great activity in search of a welding machine and bench tools. Thank God the police arrived on time.

However, homegrown sappers did not appreciate the efforts of law enforcement officers. It seems that they were even offended: “Yes, what are you, really? Such a small bomb - and such a big protocol. Here, in the bomb depot, someone dug up and tried to drag off a one and a half ton beauty - wow! In a hurry, policemen and sappers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations drove to the indicated place.

The bomb was really big. But the most unpleasant - domestic and post-war. The police, considering their mission accomplished, left. SBU employees arrived to replace her. The Ministry of Emergency Situations also retreated, who, as it turned out, are engaged in explosive devices of the Second World War and an earlier period. The territory where the object was located was the area of responsibility of a nearby military unit.

The storage, which the locals did not call anything other than a bomb depot, appeared after the war. Almost forty hectares of the area were stuffed with a simply unthinkable amount of military arsenal intended for the Starokonstantinovsky air force. Bombs, small and large, were stored both outdoors and underground.

After it was decidied that the warehouse would liquidate, the bombs were removed, but the dismantling of the structures, as local residents say, was carried out in a very peculiar way. First, a bulldozer rolled up, which, with the help of a cable, destroyed one of the walls or tore off the roof of buildings. Then trucks appeared, where soldiers under the command of officers loaded the most valuable. Then came the turn of ensigns, who took away materials of a more modest carrying capacity. And finally there were people with metal detectors. Their prey was mainly all kinds of cables, which were pulled out of the ground with the help of tractors. And only in the autumn, when the guards left the object, the inhabitants of nearby villages rushed here - to rake the miserable remnants of the former luxury, up to the barbed wire.

Even then, the villagers found bombs sticking out of the ground: both large and small. And almost the entire district knew about them, but somehow did not attach much importance to this. But once daredevils still found. They dug up the bombs, got hold of a metal cable and went to the village to look for a tractor that was supposed to pull them out of the pit and drag them to a secluded place. Thank God, they did not have time to find a kamikaze tractor driver ...

The finds were without a fuse. And this means that as long as the bombs lie quietly in the ground, there is no threat of an explosion. But they become dangerous the minute they are in the hands of homegrown scrap metal sappers. Such individuals, unfortunately, are simply not able to pass by such gizmos. Still, if you are lucky enough to successfully remove about 650 (!) Kilograms of TNT from a one and a half ton bomb, then 850 kg of iron will remain! And this is as much as 170 hryvnia, or more precisely - 56 half-litres of vigorous moonshine! Wouldn't take the risk...

An incident in the mentioned village of Vesnyanka happened twenty years ago. Once, someone brought an anti-personnel mine to the collective farm workshops. For a long time, she performed the function of an improvised blank: to enclose, support, substitute, etc. But one day, one hard worker came up with an idea: it must have turned out to be a good hammer from a mine! And really, it's great! the friend agreed, and both set to work. As soon as the mine touched the electric welding electrode, there was an explosion. The men died from severe injuries.

The one and a half ton bomb lay unattended for several days. At this time, the responsible services decided who would deal with it further. It was not clear how many more surprises awaited the sappers at the excavation site. And so it happened: when clearing the territory, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations discovered another - 50-kilogram - bomb. Then, to everyone's relief, all this stuff was taken to an enterprise for the disposal of explosive objects. But the question of where the lethal arsenal came from has not yet been answered.

According to one version, which was shared by a reserve officer who wished to remain anonymous, who once served in a similar warehouse, the bombs were buried by the military themselves - in the name of high combat performance! “The fact is,” he said, “there was an order in which a bomb attached to a bombing practice aircraft was immediately decommissioned. If, for some reason, it remained not dropped, unpleasant paperwork began, disassembly, which led to a decrease in combat performance. To prevent this, the commanders agreed among themselves, and the training target was considered hit, and the bomb, which allegedly ceased to exist, was buried right in the warehouse. I think that those who served in the army will easily believe in the reality of such a version.

In principle, today it is no longer important how exactly the bombs hit the ground. Another thing is not clear: who allowed them to be “free”? How could it happen that the soldiers leaving the warehouse did not properly clear the territory? I received an answer to this question from one curious resident of Karniimovka, who watched the work of sappers who called the territory with metal detectors. According to him, they were more interested in non-ferrous metals. Now, if the bombs were copper or, at worst, aluminum, then another thing ...

Once, in the early 80s, at the height of the Cold War, when the prospects for a nuclear conflict were more than real, Western researchers tried to simulate the situation that awaited the planet with the start of the Third World War and determine the safest place on Earth. They turned out to be the dense jungle of the Amazon. Information about the most unsafe Soviet censorship chose to cut out. However, during the battle, the shield gets the most. Therefore, it is easy to guess that the Derazhnyansk nuclear shield, without a doubt, would literally turn into one of the hottest places on Earth. Today we are physically and morally disarmed.

But if the same scientists today took up the calculation of the degree of life safety of citizens of various countries and took into account the forgetfulness of our military, leading to the finds of radioactive treasures in the fields, hidden on the outskirts of villages of multi-ton bombs, the amazing greed of metal hunters on the ruins of military units, in including in missile silos, it is unlikely that scientific minds would give us an honorable place in the rating of a safe existence.