President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, together with President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, who is visiting Ukraine, came to the urban park on the territory of the National Complex Expocentre of Ukraine (VDNG).
The head of state and the IOC president visited the locations of the urban park, which is the first part of a large-scale and modern sports cluster on the territory of the VDNG. This project is being implemented within the framework of the President's programs Big Construction and Healthy Ukraine.
"Congratulations to our entire team, the VDNG team on having built such a cool urban park in such a short time. In the coming years, all regional cities – and not only them – will see the parks of such a quality that, I think, Ukrainian citizens would like very much, especially the young ones," Zelenskyy said, after seeing the urban park.
According to him, in 2022 such parks will be opened in Lviv, Kropyvnytsky, Kryvy Rih, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Sumy, and in 2023 they are planned to open in many regional centers and several other large cities of Ukraine.
The President said that physical activity is very important for maintaining the health of the nation, and today, nearly 60% of Ukrainians are not engaged in physical activities, that is why various diseases are aggravated.
"Therefore, it is with the help of such cool sports entertainment modern "magnets" that we will increase the number of Ukrainian citizens who will engage in various sports," the head of state said.
Zelenskyy also congratulated all those present on the Day of Physical Culture and Sports.
Bach said that the Kyiv Urban Park was built in record time – almost two months, and this is really impressive.
"These parks are very important for the development of physical culture. And when the COVID-19 pandemic started, everyone realized how important exercise is for both physical and mental health," he said.
Bach also said that the appearance of such a park will help people not only stay healthy, but also enjoy life more and be happy.
In addition, according to the President of the IOC, even future Olympic champions can start their way in sports here.
"I think such parks will help develop Olympic sports," he said.
Urban culture specialists were involved in the development of the concept of the urban park; when designing the locations, they took into account the expectations of professional athletes of Ukraine and guests of VDNG recorded during the study phase, as well as expectations from the social networks of VDNG.
Entrance to the urban park at VDNG is free around the clock. The space is completely barrier-free.
On the territory of the park there are a skate park designed for extreme street cultures; a street football spot for playing 3x3, panna and freestyle street football; a streetball spot for 3x3 and 5x5 streetball and basketball trainings; a street dance and event spot for break, hip-hop dance, dance hall, popping, locking dances and the like; a street workout spot for these activities, training, master classes, as well as all-Ukrainian jams and street workout battles; a parkour spot for street training in parkour, master classes, filming parkour content, all-Ukrainian jams and battles; a jogging track in the forest area 3.5 kilometers long.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Tymoshenko said that by August next year, three swimming pools, a 10-meter diving tower, a beach sports area, a solar power plant and an eco-parking area should appear on the territory of the Kyiv's urban park.
