New Year in Kyiv will be commercial

holiday

Kyiv will celebrate the night from December 31 to January 1 with a concert on Independence Square, which, according to tradition, will end with festive fireworks. All events will be carried out by commercial structures - this is how the mayor’s office intends to replenish the city budget. More than a thousand police officers, including employees of the department for combating drug trafficking, will ensure order at mass rallies.

From noon on December 31, the central streets will be traditionally closed: Sofievskaya, Malaya Zhitomirskaya and Khreshchatyk. In addition, car parking will be prohibited on Esplanadnaya, Rognedinskaya, Shota Rustaveli and Tereshchenkovskaya streets. Public transport on these streets will not be stopped. As Kommersant was told in the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA), buses, trolleybuses and minibuses will run until “late at night.” On the night of December 31 to January 1, additional buses and minibuses will appear on the city streets. At the same time, according to the Kyiv City State Administration, this year the Kiev Metro itself will decide, depending on the flow of passengers, until what time trains run on New Year’s Eve (last year, by decision of the Kyiv City State Administration and the metro management, trains ran until three o’clock in the morning).

The main difference of this New Year's Eve will be that all festive events will be “commercial”. As the head of the main department of internal policy of the Kyiv City State Administration, Viktor Goncharuk, told Kommersant, the organization of all festive events will be carried out by non-state companies - before the New Year, the Kyiv City State Administration is specially accepting applications from all interested organizations to hold New Year's festivities on the streets and squares of Kyiv. Thus, the mayor’s office plans to “significantly replenish” the city budget. As of yesterday, the Kyiv City State Administration had not received any applications to hold festive concerts in squares other than Maidan Nezalezhnosti. Therefore, it is not yet known whether New Year’s events will be held on Kontraktovaya Square, as was the case last year.

The main events will begin at nine in the evening - at this time the main festive concert starts on Maidan Nezalezhnosti. Folklore and pop groups will take part in it, but which ones are still unknown. By midnight, according to tradition, fireworks will be launched, and fireworks will be lit in the central squares.

Several thousand police officers will maintain order during the celebrations. The Kiev police have been working in enhanced mode since December 15. The head of the press service of the capital's police, Vladimir Polishchuk, told Kommersant that on New Year's Eve, an additional 5.7 thousand law enforcement officers will be involved in protecting public order in the city, of which 1.2 thousand are servicemen of the internal troops of Ukraine. In the city center and some areas of the capital where Christmas trees are installed (Podol, Obolon), the service will be carried out by 1.2 thousand personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, including employees of the criminal police for juvenile affairs, the department for combating drug trafficking, district and workers of other services. In addition - 500 military personnel of the internal troops.

IVAN TYAZHLOV

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