Trostyanets city hromada

Trostyanets city territorial hromada was the flagship of the decentralization and local government reform in Ukraine in 2017-2022, which met the criteria of a successful, safe, and effectively managed municipality.

The first settlements on the territory of the present-day Trostyanets were founded by Cossacks from the Right Bank of Ukraine (named after the Right Bank of the Dnipro river), who colonized these lands. The name comes from the name of the Trostyanka river, which flows nearby. Further development of the city is mostly associated with the sugar industry, which was one of the most developed in the region.

The landmark of the city is the Round Yard – a fortress built in the XVIII century. Despite its  fortifications and defensive towers, it has never performed its military function and has been used as a circus arena.

Vision 2050: 25-Year Development Strategy

Main Vision:
By 2050, Trostyanets will be a self-sufficient, innovative, and green hub — a comfortable place to live, work, and visit.

Economic Hub & Innovation:

  • 3,200+ new jobs from the Industrial Park, export-oriented businesses, and investments.

Quality of Life & Human Capital:

  • 11,600+ residents in new housing.
  • Outflow of skilled professionals halted.
  • Modern schools, kindergartens, and public spaces built.

Tourism & Sports:

  • Trostianets as a national eco-tourism and sports center.
  • Biathlon complex among the world’s best, hosting international events.
  • Arboretum ranked among the top 10 global eco-parks.

Sustainability & Energy Efficiency:

  • Green building principles and eco-friendly infrastructure.
  • Energy independence through solar power.
Trostyanets_city_hromada_map_2021Download

Trostynaets City Hromada

  • Population: 27,831
  • Total area: 78,866 hectares
  • Transport links:
    • Highway N12: Sumy – Poltava – Olexandria (Hlukhiv – Kharkiv)
    • Railway line: Kyiv – Sumy – Kharkiv
  • Location: Southern Sumy region, 60 km from Sumy city
  • Borders with: Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Poltava regions
  • Administrative structure: 38 settlements, 12 village districts, with Trostianets as the administrative center

Land Resources

  • Total area: 78,865.85 hectares
  • Agricultural land: 40,432.87 hectares
  • Water bodies: 211.5 hectares
  • Forests: 29,961 hectares
  • Protected areas (reserves, sanctuaries, arboretums): 5,183.5 hectares

Renewable Energy

  • In 2020–2023, LLC Global Green Energy Solar I built a 5.7 MW solar power plant on a 9-hectare site, investing $5.7 million.
  • Trostyanets has 8 more land plots designated for renewable energy (total 150 hectares, ranging from 6 to 36.2 hectares).
  • Lease term: up to 49 years.
  • Annual rent: $400 per hectare.

City and the War (2022-2026)

Trostyanets is located only 35 kilometers from the border with russia. Our municipality has been under russian occupation since February 24, 2022. The city became the headquarters for the russian military and had been in occupation for 30 (thirty) days.

Here, a large number of the russian military had been deployed and numerous military equipment stored. All shops and pharmacies were looted by russian soldiers. The city was on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Their troops intentionally damaged power grids, as well as ground and underground utility infrastructure. Eventually, mobile communications were totally cut off.

Although Trostyanets avoided the fate of Mariupol, Izyum or Volnovakha, and was liberated by the Ukrainian troops in late March 2022, the city was severely damaged with the looting of Russian occupiers.

More stories about occupation in February-March 2022 please find on following link: publications

An apartment block in Trostyanets occupied by Russian troops and damaged by the Ukrainian army when it retook the town.Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The Guardian

From Destruction to Renewal

On March 25, 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated Trostyanets hromada after weeks of fierce fighting. Local residents played a crucial role, providing intelligence, resisting occupation, and supporting the army.

The occupation left 1,550 buildings damaged or destroyed, 49 residents killed, and losses exceeding $100 million. Yet within two years, schools, kindergartens, and major factories resumed operations, and the population even grew thanks to IDPs.

“We want not just to rebuild, but to modernize what the russians destroyed”, — Mayor Yuriy Bova

Comprehensive Reconstruction

In early 2023, Trostianets became one of six pilot cities in Ukraine’s state program for comprehensive reconstruction under the “Build Back Better” principle.

Projects include:

  • Restoration of housing (Blagovishchanska St. 53, Neskuchanska St. 9).
  • Reconstruction of the hospital, polyclinic, and Station Square.
  • Modernization of stormwater and sewage networks.
  • New pedestrian crossings, parking, and transport hubs.

Medical infrastructure is being rebuilt with state and international support (including Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Modular Hospital extension solution worth €1,3 M).

Business Resilience (2022-2026)

First of all, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that two powerful foreign food industry enterprises are successfully operating in Trostyanets city – the factory of PrJSC “Mondelez Ukraine”, and LLC “Jacobs Dow Egberts Ukraine”.

From 1995 to 2021, the volume of investments in the development of these enterprises amounted to more than $ 200 million. The volume of production at both enterprises in 2021 amounted to 79394.02 tons for a total of $ 358.2 million.

By February 24, 2022, a total of 1,400 people worked at both enterprises. Despite significant damage and looting during the occupation of the city, in 2023-2024, Mondelez Ukraine PJSC invested 20 million US dollars in the restoration of the chocolate factory, and the volume of production in 2024 already amounted to 26.3 thousand tons for a total of 6.9 billion UAH.

According to the results of 2024, Mondelez Ukraine PJSC ranked 155th among the largest companies and enterprises in Ukraine. Also, the Jacobs Dow Egberts Ukraine LLC plant resumed its activities, which is actually located on the territory of the Mondelez Ukraine PJSC chocolate factory. According to the results of 2024, Jacobs Dow Egberts Ukraine LLC ranked 334th among the largest companies and enterprises in Ukraine.

Despite the war, not a single enterprise left Trostyanets.

  • Mondelēz International factory, badly damaged in March 2022, was fully restored by May 2024.
    • Investments: $20M ($12M completed, $8M planned).
    • Employees: 580+ back at work.
    • Products resumed: Milka, Korona, Barney, Oreo.
    • Over $1M invested in local social projects.
  • Kraft Jacobs also resumed work, employing 250 people.

SMEs are supported through grants and local government initiatives.

Business Opportunities

Wood Processing

  • Forest area: ~30,000 hectares
    • 21,392 ha hardwood (oak, ash)
    • 5,271 ha coniferous
    • 2,743 ha softwood
  • Total annual stock: 71,904 m³
  • Restoring the destroyed 2-hectare wood processing plant would allow monthly processing of 495 m³ of roundwood.

Fish Farming

  • 60 water bodies with a combined surface area of 315 hectares (0.5–34.1 ha each).
  • Lease term: 7–49 years.
  • Annual rent: $40 per hectare.

Horticulture

  • 13 land plots totaling 116.1 hectares (1.2–30.3 ha).
  • Lease term: 7–49 years.
  • Annual rent: $80 per hectare.

Livestock Development

  • 98.2 hectares available (0.5–16.1 ha).
  • Lease term: 7–49 years.
  • Annual rent: $80 per hectare.

Drinking Water Production

  • A mineral water source in Krynychne village meets regulatory standards and has healing properties.
  • Available: 3.9563 ha land plot for building a production plant, plus municipal non-residential buildings (194.1, 282.6, and 104.1 m²) available for lease or privatization.

Recreation & Tourism

  • 6 land plots totaling 42.8 hectares (1.5–13.1 ha) along the clean Vorskla River.
  • Intended for recreation centers and hotels.
  • Lease term: up to 49 years.
  • Annual rent: $487 per hectare.

International Partnerships (2022-2026)

The full-scale ru invasion in 2022 was a point of no returning for many Ukrainian municipalities. For Trostianets municipality, the invasion turned into a month of occupation, destroyed homes, devastated infrastructure, and multimillion-dollar damage. But at the same time, these trials made our community stronger, more united, and more ambitious.

Today, 3.5 years after those terrible events, the Trostyinets demonstrates a unique example of how, even after large-scale destruction, it is possible not only to recover, but also to develop and open up new prospects.

In spring 2022 in a result of military operations, about 1,000 objects were damaged and destroyed: 59 municipal property objects, hundreds of private homes were destroyed, 3 high-rise buildings and 12 private houses were completely destroyed.

The municipal enterprises were actually paralyzed. Town institutions were not able to work, there was a lack of equipment, businesses lost production capacity, hundreds of families were left without housing.

But the war did not break the people of our town. On the contrary, this situation made them to unite and look for new opportunities for recovery.

In the past three years, Trostyanets has partnered with 130+ international organizations — from volunteers to global development agencies.

Mayor Bova personally wrote 300+ appeals, securing funds and support for cultural, educational, and infrastructure projects.

As he notes:

“We must not wait for the war to end to rebuild. The enemy wants us to stop, but we continue every day.”

The team of Trostianets city council learned quickly to respond to the challenges of wartime, prepare high-quality grant applications, and prove the innovativeness of their ideas. In just 3.5 years, more than 30 large-scale projects have been implemented in cooperation with international donors and Ukrainian partners, the most valuable of which are:

The important contribution was also made by a long-time friend and partner of our town – Sibilla Strike-Zimmermann – the great-great-granddaughter of Leopold Koenig, and her husband Hans. This family provided support in the restoration and repairing of departments of the Trostianets City Hospital, in the renovation of libraries, and a minibus for transporting children was also purchased. The total amount of provided assistance is 10.4 million hryvnias.

The Ukrainian Government also plays an important role in the restoration of our municipality. This is the result of the hard work of Trostianets mayor Yuriy Bova and the entire team of Trostyanets city council, the availability of quality projects, and the active participation of the community, thanks to which the state leadership can hear us, see us, and respond to our problems.

In particular, the following state programs were implemented in Trostyanets:

  • 200 million UAH – reconstruction of the H-12 highway, which passes through the Trostyanets city hromada
  • 107.3 million UAH – construction and arrangement of Centers for IDPs (Neskuchne – 91.4 million UAH, Zavodska 1 – 4.6 million UAH, Keniga 7 – 2.7 million UAH, Soldatske villages – 6.9 million UAH, Martynivka – 2.7 million UAH, Dernove – 3.6 million UAH)
  • 86 million UAH were received by 395 families within the framework of the e-Reconstruction program, including 54 million UAH – for 45 destroyed objects, 32 million UAH – for 350 families whose housing was damaged
  • 72.7 million UAH — restoration of “Trostyanets city hospital” (repairing of the polyclinic, thermal modernization of the inpatient, polyclinic, and children’s buildings)
  • 60.5 million UAH — repairs of war-damaged apartment buildings on Blagovishchenska Street, 53 and Neskuchanska Street, 9
  • 15 million UAH transferred from the Sumy Regional Military Administration for building materials for owners of damaged housing

Thus, as of end of 2025 Trostyanets has attracted 391.3 million hryvnias from international and Ukrainian partners, and 541.5 million hryvnias from the government – for the reconstruction of damaged facilities and compensation to residents for destroyed housing, totally approximately 933 million hryvnias.

Trostyanets hromada is becoming an example of high-quality reconstruction and resilience. Financial support from the state and international partners has given us the chance to restore the housing stock, equip premises for the accommodation of displaced persons, create modern medical institutions, launch the educational process, revive and develop the municipal sphere.

Today we have already demonstrated that restoration is not only about rebuilding buildings. It is the path to a qualitatively new level of life for our hromada! We have become an example for the country and a convincing signal for foreign donors: aid brings tangible changes.

Open for Partnerships

Trostyanets City Council, Ukraine
6 Myru St., Trostianets, Sumy region
invest.trostyanets-miskarada.gov.ua
[email protected]
+380 545 85 13 80
Facebook Page

Mayor Yuriy Bova
[email protected]
+380 99 790 03 72
Facebook Profile