In occupied Yevpatoria, historic Ukrainian structure suffers decay

This was reported by Voice of Crimea.

The original structure, built in the summer-cottage style popular in the early 20th century, was erected in the city around that time. After the Bolshevik occupation of Crimea, the building was repurposed to house a polyclinic.

In approximately 2016, following the Russian occupation, the polyclinic's main building was granted cultural heritage status.

In 2021, the first letters of the inscription "Central Resort Polyclinic" fell off the dome's drum, and over the years, two of the three words had disappeared from the facade. Around the same time, the building endured a severe storm, leading to its declaration as unsafe. Following another partial collapse of the facade in early 2022, the "State Unitary Enterprise of the Republic of Crimea' Sunny Tavrika'" put the building up for sale, despite it still having "protected status" at that time. In 2024, "comprehensive research and development work" was conducted at the site, and a preliminary restoration design was approved.

As of February 2026, the building was officially owned by Onyx Specialized Developer LLC. By the end of that year, the Crimean Ministry of Culture assured that a comprehensive plan for restoring the building's facade would be ready, in line with the terms of the purchase agreement. The project documentation has reportedly passed expert review and received a recommendation for approval from the Scientific and Methodological Council on Cultural Heritage under the Ministry. In the meantime, falling roof tiles from the building are causing damage to the stairs and facades.

Since the second half of the 2000s, a chapel dedicated to the Protection of the Holy Mother of God of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has been established in the library of the Central Resort Polyclinic in Yevpatoria. This was part of an agreement, while the community was also constructing a church on land acquired, in part, with assistance from Bishop Vasyl Ivasiuk, the UGCC Exarch of the Odessa-Crimea region.

Following the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014, the construction of the church had to be halted due to a lack of resources. In 2016, the Yevpatoria parish, along with other UGCC parishes in temporarily occupied Crimea, was compelled to register under Russian law as part of the Exarchate of the Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite, which is directly subject to the Holy See. That same year, without explanation, the community was deprived of its premises in the building of the central resort clinic, which had previously served as a chapel, forcing the faithful to gather for worship at the local Roman Catholic church.

After the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the parish's permanent pastor, Fr. Bohdan Kostetskyi — who was then effectively acting as the administrator of the Exarchate for Eastern Rite Catholics — left the temporarily occupied Crimea.

The situation with the Central Resort Polyclinic building in Yevpatoria is not an isolated incident regarding the deterioration of the region's architectural and historical monuments under Russian occupation. Notably, in March, the significant collapse of a medieval Armenian church in occupied Feodosia resulted in major public outcry; this building had long been neglected by the occupying authorities, despite being designated a "monument of federal significance."