Kyiv City Council has proposed repurposing the Metrohrad shopping mall in central Kyiv to become an underground parking space that also serves as a bomb shelter.The proposal comes as Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) determines the mall’s fate after it was seized under sanctions on Russia, since the mall was owned by a firm connected to sanctioned Russian politician Oleksandr Babakov.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.Multiple officials from the Kyiv City Council put forward a draft proposal to put the mall’s space – estimated to be over 17,000 square meters (4 acres) – under the management of the council itself.Konstantin Usov, a council member and deputy head of Kyiv City State Administration, said the council proposes turning it into a parking space and shelter.“There is an acute shortage of parking spaces in the center of Kyiv, while underground there is over 17,000 square meters [4 acres] of a shopping complex associated with Russian business,” Usov said, according to the council’s Thursday press release.“If this asset is collected as state revenue, Kyiv wants to be able to obtain it for the needs of the community. Our vision is, first of all, modern parking, and with the appropriate engineering capabilities, also a shelter function,” Usov added.The underground mall, built in 2001, sits in the heart of Kyiv and currently serves as a pedestrian passageway between major metro transit stations, namely Khreshchatyk, Ploshcha Ukrainskykh Heroiv, and Palats Sportu.