Authorities are warning of a "shutdown": officials in Mykolaiv said that funds may be insufficient as early as November

Two months without money: Dmytro Falko warned about the risk of a "shutdown" in Mykolaiv at the end of 2026

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14 Aug 2026

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Mykolaiv may find itself in an unprecedented situation for Ukrainian local government: if the city does not receive additional assistance from the state, in November and December 2026 there may not be enough funds even for priority expenditures. Secretary of the Mykolaiv City Council Dmytro Falko said that current funding effectively allows the city to cover basic needs only until about October. He spoke about the critical situation on the air of the program “Dialogue” on TRC “MART”. The channel itself confirms that the city has appealed to the central government for an additional subsidy due to an acute budget deficit.

One of the main reasons for this situation, Dmytro Falko named the sharp reduction of Mykolaiv’s tax base. Before the full-scale war, a significant part of revenues was provided by large industrial and port enterprises, but now many of them either do not operate at all or operate in a minimal mode.

Talking about the losses to the city budget due to the effective halt of large taxpayers, the city council secretary cited the example of the Zorya plant, the port sector and other enterprises.

“Today in Mykolaiv those large enterprises that were budget-forming and generated the lion’s share of these revenues, such as the Zorya plant, the port sector and other large enterprises. They are all not operating or are operating in a minimal mode. Revenues from them have significantly decreased,” – said Dmytro Falko.

Another serious blow to the city treasury was the change in the procedure for crediting personal income tax (PIT) from the monetary remuneration of servicemen and employees of law enforcement agencies. According to Dmytro Falko, in 2022 almost 60% of all PIT receipts to the Mykolaiv budget were provided by taxes from servicemen, employees of the SBU, the prosecutor’s office, the police, the State Emergency Service and other structures. After the change in budget rules, these funds began to be directed to the state budget.

At the same time, the Mykolaiv budget for 2026, the city council secretary says, was already extremely constrained at the formation stage. Amid inflation, an increase in the minimum wage and higher energy costs, they tried to leave primarily the priority needs. But even that funding is not enough until the end of the year.

Explaining how limited the community’s financial resource is, Dmytro Falko said that basic needs are effectively financed for only 10 months.

“Even with such a pessimistic, tight budget, we have actually financed only priority needs for 10 months – that is, effectively until October,” – said the secretary of the Mykolaiv City Council.

The situation is complicated by expenses that arise during the budget year. Among these, Dmytro Falko named funding for children’s meals and co-financing the installation of block-modular boiler houses. TRC “MART” also cites the city council secretary’s words that these additional expenses, with October approaching, are becoming an increasingly acute problem for the budget.

Because of this, the city authorities decided to re-appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. According to Dmytro Falko, Mykolaiv is asking for an additional 1.18 billion hryvnias, and these funds are not needed for new projects or the development budget, but for the city’s basic expenditures.

Describing the possible consequences of the lack of funds in the coming months, Dmytro Falko said:

“A decision was made to re-appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers to remind them of the difficult state of the city of Mykolaiv and of what awaits us in the future… For two months we will actually have nothing financed. And this happens despite the fact that already today all sectors of the city are significantly underfunded. For example, the volume of grass-cutting work decreases month by month. Street cleaning is now carried out once a week instead of twice. The approach of autumn is already felt: fallen leaves appear that require daily cleaning. There are a huge number of urgent tasks in the city that need to be solved, but to date they are financed at 0%. And the 1.18 billion hryvnias we are asking for are not for some additional whims. These funds will not go to the development budget. They are exclusively for necessary and priority expenditures,” – said Dmytro Falko.

According to the official, the additional funds are needed, in particular, to get through the heating season, ensure water supply and enable the functioning of local government bodies. In other words, this is about funding areas on which the work of municipal and communal infrastructure directly depends. Reports about the risk of effectively zero financing during the last two months of 2026 are also cited by Mykolaiv media.

The most alarming forecast by Dmytro Falko concerned November and December. He compared the possible situation in Mykolaiv to the American government shutdown, when due to funding problems the work of state institutions is partially suspended. This is a comparison made by the official and not a statement that a mechanism identical to the American one will be used.

Speaking about what may await Mykolaiv at the end of 2026, the city council secretary said:

“If nothing changes, then likely during months 11–12 we will find ourselves in a situation similar to the US shutdown. I have never encountered anything like this and I do not know if anyone among representatives of local government in Ukraine has encountered it,” – said the city council secretary.

The city council now counts on help from the state budget and the assistance of former head of the Mykolaiv OVA Vitalii Kim. On 16 July 2026 he was appointed Minister for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine. He was also elected a deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council of the 8th convocation.

The city’s financial problems are already noticeable not only in year-end forecasts. On 8 August 2026 Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych warned about further cuts in spending on improvement and road repairs, a shortage of funds for fuel for communal enterprises and even the risk of unpaid leaves for municipal enterprise employees.