The head of the Department of Culture of the Mykolaiv City Council, Yurii Liubarov, did not support the decision to remove responsibility for cultural heritage protection from his department. In an interview, the official explained his position on the changes introduced as part of the executive bodies reform promoted by Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych.
The updated structure has been in effect since September 10. At the same time, the city council is still looking for someone to head the cultural heritage protection sector.
“The decision was made to separate this department and create an independent sector within the executive committee. That sector will handle these matters. Our department has been left with issues related to intangible cultural heritage: toasts, rituals, borscht recipes, songs. So it has been split up a little. Because the law on cultural heritage protection covers everything. It has been split up a little. We’ll see how it works. I hope it’s for the best,” said Yurii Liubarov.
Oleksandr Sienkevych presented the city hall restructuring plan in April 2025. The recommendations of an Ernst & Young audit served as the basis for its development. The reform provided for the following changes:
- abolishing some departments;
- merging departments;
- reducing the number of chief administrators of budget funds.
Initially, cultural heritage protection was to be transferred to the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning. However, the Department of Culture of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration warned that combining these responsibilities could create a conflict of interest. After that, Oleksandr Sienkevych announced that this option had been rejected in favor of creating an independent sector within the executive committee.
On April 30, 2026, the city council approved changes to the structure of the executive bodies. The cultural heritage protection sector was allocated three employees. During the discussion, the mayor urged council members to vote in favor of the decision, stressing that the structure could be adjusted later. Yurii Liubarov also allows for further changes and recalled the mayor’s position on the matter.
According to the department head, until 2007, the cultural heritage protection department was a separate unit. Its work involves monitoring how the organizations responsible for the landmarks maintain and use them.
“It is a regulatory body; this is not creative work at all. It is architectural, spatial work. Back then, it was joined to the Department of Culture because both were part of the same ministry. And to this day, cultural heritage protection remains within the structure of the Ministry of Culture,” explained Yurii Liubarov.
The official also explained how the change in responsibilities has affected the inquiries he receives:
“I wasn’t an advocate for this, not because I didn’t want to hand over the responsibilities or anything like that. But given that it’s a unified structure and we’re part of the same ministry, people still ask me about cultural heritage—people from above and from the side—and I tell them, ‘Friends, that’s not within my responsibilities; go over there.’ Sometimes they look at me in surprise,” said Yurii Liubarov.
We previously reported:
