Russian strike destroys Hetman National Nature Park building in Sumy Oblast

The building was destroyed during an attack on Sumy Oblast on March 23.

The exhibition center was completely destroyed and burned down. According to Mykhailo Obidets, a leading specialist in environmental education at Hetman National Nature Park, all excursions and routes through the park — ecological, cycling and kayaking — began from this building.

“Towels were hanging, and there were items of traditional household life — pots, jugs, old irons, a comb. There was also a library. Since there is a school opposite, children often came to us, and we held tours for kindergarten groups,” he said.

Hetman National Nature Park was established in 2009 in the Vorskla River valley. It begins at the border with Russia and stretches along the Vorskla to the boundary with Poltava Oblast. The park includes the floodplain, the river, above-floodplain terraces and the right bank of the river. Its core areas are the Lytovskyi Bir tract and the Bakyrivskyi hydrological reserve. Its area is 23,360.1 hectares.