Zelensky Still Lives at State Dacha: Options for Future Housing and Security

Zelensky has already considered several options for future housing.

President Volodymyr Zelensky explained why he did not keep his promise and has been living at the state dacha for a year. He claims he decided to move there solely because of his security detail. 

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

It all comes down to security alone: they need a separate house. That is, I have to buy a territory today, some land, where my house and a house for security will be. To be honest, I live there like in a hotel. Nevertheless, I brought my furniture from the estate, the house we sold. 

The president was asked whether he is looking for housing, since his presidential term will end at some point. Zelensky said he has already considered several options. 

According to him, they are now deciding whether “to buy a new house that is already finished and renovate it, or to buy new land and build a new house.” 

On July 9, 2020, it became known that Zelensky was using a state dacha on the territory of the Koncha-Zaspa residence, specifically “House No. 29,” known as “Yushchenko's dacha.” This was reported in an investigation by “Schemes”. 

Journalists found that renovation of “House No. 29” began at the end of 2019. Almost 200,000 hryvnias from the state budget were spent on “emergency restoration work on current house repairs,” and another 110,000 hryvnias went to “repair of the fire alarm system.” 

As early as March 2020, several sources confirmed to journalists that the dacha was being prepared “for Zelensky.” In July the president actually began using the state dacha. On July 6, a film crew recorded that the president's motorcade, after the end of the workday, headed toward Koncha-Zaspa and entered the restricted territory. The motorcade left only in the morning. 

The next day the president also spent the night there, as did his wife Olena Zelenska. Journalists were able to drive past House No. 29 thanks to their source. The investigation says: “A video shot on a phone shows that the territory is well lit, the house on the grounds has lights on in its windows, and guards are on duty at the fence.”

The dacha is a three-story mansion of more than 2,000 m² set within several hectares of fenced territory. The house has four bedrooms, an elevator, a movie theater, a billiard room, a solarium, saunas, a swimming pool and a massage room. 

“Yet for five years it seems no one has bought the residence. And now Volodymyr Zelensky has decided to use this privilege at state expense, although before entering politics he condemned politicians for doing the same,” the article says. 

After the publication of the “Schemes” investigation, the press service of the President of Ukraine explained how Zelensky and his family ended up in the state dacha. Volodymyr Zelensky informed the National Agency on Corruption Prevention of changes in his property status: in July 2020 he sold a house in the village of Ivankovychi, Kyiv Oblast. 

The press service noted that he also sold the land plot on which the sold house stands. That is why the president and his family planned to live temporarily in the state residence “Koncha-Zaspa.”