In 2025, the State Archival Service of Ukraine plans to implement a project to build an underground storage facility of one thousand square meters, said its head Anatolii Khromov.
“This is one of the biggest problems because almost all state archives are overcrowded. We usually solve the issue in such a way that even here in Kyiv we convert all free space for the storage of documents. All basements and cellars are dried, repaired and equipped for storage, thus finding new areas for relocated collections,” Khromov said in an exclusive interview withInterfax-Ukraine, answering the question of how acute the issue of overcrowding in archival storage is today.
At the same time, he said, the government has approved a strategy for protecting national identity, which deals with archives during the war. One of the points is about improving the material and technical base, that is, creating new areas for storage, including the construction of modern underground storage facilities.
Khromov said that in the near future it is planned to implement the project of the underground storage facility of the State Archival Service.
“As of today, we have updated the estimate documentation and conducted an expert examination, and there are assurances from the Ministry of Justice that they will help us find funds either in the budget plan or through donors to build it this year or at least put it into operation early next year. But, you know, the problem is not only money, it is a huge problem to find a contractor who can do professional work and who has a staff of non-mobilized workers,” he added.
In addition, he noted that, in addition to the ambition to complete the underground storage facility project, the plans are to complete the long-frozen construction of huge storage facilities that have not been built for more than 10 years.
“An underground storage facility of about a thousand square meters with all the equipment will cost about UAH 140 million. For two high-rise storage facilities, which are tens of thousands of square meters, together with the reconstruction of the existing premises where we were located, the amount was about $100 million before the war. The sums are quite large, but we are thinking of a phased implementation, because it is impossible to both build and find such a resource at the same time in the conditions of war, when the priorities of the state and society are obviously to support the defense sector,” added the head of the Ukrderzharkhiv.
In turn, Deputy Minister of Justice Viktoriia Vasylchuk emphasized that if the underground storage project is successful, it will significantly increase the protection of documents in the event of shelling or fire.
As reported, in 2022, Khromov said that Ukraine was the only post-Soviet country that had not built a new central archives complex.
In February 2025, he said that it was unrealistic to build underground storage facilities for the entire National Archive Fond for 100 million files.
