Kyiv Proposes Turning Metrohrad Mall Into Underground Parking

Kyiv City Council has proposed repurposing the Metrohrad shopping mall in central Kyiv to become an underground parking space that also serves as a bomb shelter.The proposal comes as Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) determines the mall’s fate after it was seized under sanctions on Russia, since the mall was owned by a firm connected to sanctioned Russian politician Oleksandr Babakov.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.Multiple officials from the Kyiv City Council put forward a draft proposal to put the mall’s space – estimated to be over 17,000 square meters (4 acres) – under the management of the council itself.Konstantin Usov, a council member and deputy head of Kyiv City State Administration, said the council proposes turning it into a parking space and shelter.“There is an acute shortage of parking spaces in the center of Kyiv, while underground there is over 17,000 square meters [4 acres] of a shopping complex associated with Russian business,” Usov said, according to the council’s Thursday press release.“If this asset is collected as state revenue, Kyiv wants to be able to obtain it for the needs of the community. Our vision is, first of all, modern parking, and with the appropriate engineering capabilities, also a shelter function,” Usov added.The underground mall, built in 2001, sits in the heart of Kyiv and currently serves as a pedestrian passageway between major metro transit stations, namely Khreshchatyk, Ploshcha Ukrainskykh Heroiv, and Palats Sportu. Other Topics of Interest Witkoff, Kushner Reportedly to Visit Moscow Before Kyiv on Sept. 5-6 Rada Deputy Honcharenko says Witkoff and Kushner were supposed to fly to Kyiv on Sunday to promote trilateral talks after visiting Moscow on Saturday. The lack of aboveground crossings also makes the mall one of the only practical ways to walk between the stations.As the city center was not built to accommodate modern traffic, central Kyiv has long been plagued by parking problems, including illegal parking on curbs – a problem eased in recent years by designated parking spaces along the sides of roads.In recent months, debates on shelter space expansions have also come into focus amid intensified Russian ballistic missile strikes, with authorities lambasted for inadequate preparation in over four years of Russian full-scale invasion.But as the fate of Metrohrad remains uncertain, Kyiv City Council official Hryhoriy Malenko also acknowledged the complexity of having it transferred to the council.“A complex legal and organizational process lies ahead, the outcome of which depends not only on the city. But Kyiv is already clearly stating that it knows how this space can work for the community if legal grounds arise for its transfer to the city,” Malenko was quoted as saying. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.