Створення SafeMed (Capsule Hospital) та “Центру ветеранського розвитку” у Шостці

30 жовтня 2025 року в Києві, у Дипломатичній академії України, пройшла міжнародна конференція “Стійкість та європейське майбутнє Сумської області”, яка об’єднала урядовців, дипломатів, представників громад, міжнародних організацій і донорських інституцій. 

“Сумщина – це форпост нашої оборони. Це стійкі та незламні люди, які, попри щоденні російські обстріли й небезпеку, залишаються на Батьківщині, працюють у надскладних умовах, навчають дітей, відновлюють міста й села. І ця стійкість сьогодні підтримує не лише Сумщину, вона зміцнює всю Україну та Європу”, – зазначив у своєму виступі міністр Андрій Сибіга.

Shostka urban hromada is the third largest hromada in Sumy Oblast. The hromada’s boundaries actually coincide with the boundaries of the former Shostka Raion. Currently, Shostka hromada includes 38 settlements: a city, a town and 36 villages. Its total population is over 90 thousand people.

Shostka — is a medium-sized city located in the northern part of Sumy Oblast, the administrative centre of Shostka Raion and Shostka urban hromada. Shostka is known for its chemicals and food products. There are also powerful military production facilities in the city that have existed here for centuries.

Population:

The Shostka Urban Territorial Community is located in the territory of the Shostka District in the Sumy Region.

The total surface area of the territory is 1,254.58 km2.

Population: 91,154 residents 

Men: 46,157
Women: 35,774
Children: 11,948
Pensioners: 28,821
Internally displaced persons: 4,150

Shostka is a northern industrial and economic centre of the Sumy Region. Its key industrial sectors include food, pharmaceutical, engineering, chemical, woodworking sectors, production of electrical and insulating materials, production and distribution of electrical and thermal energy.

In early 2022, more than 800 enterprises and institutions, as well as about 2.5 thousand entrepreneurs, were registered in the territory of the administrative centre of the Shostka Community.

Shostka city hromada: a future born of trust, nature, and interaction

While big cities compete for investment, small communities are building the future through the prism of local resources, interaction with people, and rethinking their space. In the north of Sumy region, a few dozen kilometers from the Russian border, the residents of Shostka have come together to think about their future together with the spatial development office. 

Shostka municipality creates something that has never been seen in Ukraine in this format before — a spatial vision of the community based on in-depth research and dialogue.

The vision envisages specific spatial scenarios. This is not just a desire to improve something – it is the logic of change. Thus, a territory completely oriented towards industry is undergoing transformation and rethinking of abandoned industrial zones: into a reserve, new housing, a waterfront, cultural spaces in place of abandoned “gray zones”.

What is the essence of vision and why is it important?

Strategic thinking is a show of courage. But even more, it is a show of respect for the people who stay, work, and believe in their communities. This document is not just another strategic piece of paper. It is living map of the future, formed from the opinions of more than four hundred residents, field observations, analysis of urban planning data, the potential of nature and values ​​that were voiced in village clubs, school classrooms, specialist offices and on benches near high-rise buildings.

In this model, the city of Shostka does not pull the community towards itself, but is its open core – one that unites production, service functions, educational and cultural potential. And the villages are not the periphery, but active parts with their own logic, dignity and resources. 

The vision for the development of the Shostka community does not contrast the city and the village, but on the contrary, creates a framework in which they complement each other.

Youth is not an audience, but a co-author

A separate part of the vision is dedicated to youth. But not as an object of care, but as a full-fledged development entityThe Shostka community has an active youth community — from IT initiatives to volunteer movements and cultural events.

In the future, there are plans to create a Youth Opportunity Center—a hub where learning, community, micro-entrepreneurship, and culture intersect. It should become a “point of gravity” that can keep young people in the community—or motivate them to return as soon as the opportunity arises.

Nature as a participant in development

It is important that the vision does not bypass what usually remains in the strategic shadow – natural environmentPart of the Shostka community is part of the Emerald Network, a European system of protected areas.

Natural areas — swamps, forests, wetlands — in the vision become not only objects of protection. They are financial opportunities for community development (at the expense of ecosystem services), and sites for green tourism. 

The city itself has an idea of ​​forming a “blue-green framework” – a system of reservoirs, forest belts and green corridors that create shade, reduce overheating, and at the same time – are places of interaction and recreation for residents. Nature becomes one of the drivers through which the community can develop. 

Trust is the basis for development

In communities that have gone through trauma — full-scale war, threats of occupation, loss of people and resources — trust becomes the most scarce and at the same time the most valuable currency.

Shostka’s vision is not a declaration. It is an attempt to give people the feeling that they are heard, their opinions matter, their experience is the basis, not an ornament for the presentation. And it is precisely because of this that it works. Because no one knows the community better than those who live in it every day.

The context in which this vision was created is exceptional. Full-scale war, economic instability, demographic challenges, infrastructural degradation, emotional exhaustion. All of this is part of the reality of communities, including Shostka.

Thanks to the City Council, which is open to change and ready to move forward, the community now has a tool, to speak about yourself confidently.

The vision of the development of Shostka hromada does not provide ready-made recipes, but creates a language in which to talk about development.