An ice arena may appear at the Olympic Professional College named after Ivan Piddubny in Kyiv — and not from scratch. The key asset of the project already exists: refrigeration equipment that was transported from the Kherson ice palace "Favorit-Arena" before the city's occupation. The state had previously spent 70 million hryvnias on it.
Equipment exists — walls don't
According to the Ministry of Youth and Sports press service, the equipment is in working condition. The problem is infrastructural: for the equipment to work, a frame-type arena is needed. Project documentation has already been developed and is currently undergoing expert review, which is planned to be completed by August 1, 2025.
"The next step should be the construction of a frame-type arena. The corresponding project has already been developed and is currently undergoing expert review, which is planned to be completed by August 1 of this year."
— Press service of the Ministry of Youth and Sports
To finance the construction, the Ministry is working on a mechanism to attract funds through the charitable platform Sports Recovery Foundation. State budget is not currently part of the equation.
Why Piddubny College needs an ice arena
Piddubny College is one of Ukraine's main suppliers of sports talent for national teams: it trains athletes in over 14 sports disciplines. However, winter sports have so far been outside its profile. The launch of the arena, according to the Ministry's plan, will allow opening two new departments for winter sports. This is also important in the context of the war: some athletes from the Kherson and other ice clubs in southern Ukraine have effectively been left without training facilities.
Kherson ice palace — what it was
"Favorit-Arena" in Kherson opened in December 2008 as part of the state program "Hockey of Ukraine." Ice hockey and figure skating were developed there — in 2011–2012, the local hockey school "Dnipro" won the Ukrainian championship for the first time in 10 years. After the full-scale invasion and capture of the city, the arena essentially ceased to exist as a Ukrainian sports institution. The equipment was managed to be transported away.
Now this equipment is both the only real asset of the project and its main vulnerability: the construction of the arena depends on non-state funding, the timeline for which no one has publicly guaranteed.
If the expert review is completed on time and funds through Sports Recovery Foundation can be attracted by the end of 2025, Kyiv will get a new ice arena without state budget expenses for equipment. If not, the 70-million-hryvnia equipment will continue to wait in storage: precedents with "rescued" state property in Ukraine are well known.
