"As of September 1, there is no money for salaries": Topchiy warned about the situation in cultural institutions

The budget of Mykolaiv currently does not provide funds to pay the salaries of employees of the city’s cultural institutions from September 1, 2026. This was stated by the director of the Mykolaiv Zoo, Volodymyr Topchiy, on Thursday, July 9, 2026, during a meeting of the permanent city council commission on economic and investment policy, planning, budget, finance and socio-economic development.

Topchiy urged the city authorities not to postpone resolving the issue and to determine now where the necessary funds can be allocated from.

“What will we do from September 1 with the cultural institutions? There are literally zeros for salaries. Are we going to do something about this now, or later? Because from September 1 there is no money for salaries,” the zoo director said.

According to him, the day before he had contacted the Department of Culture and Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Mykolaiv City Council, but they also could not explain how they plan to solve the problem.

“Now we already need to think about what we will do with the cultural institutions. There is simply no money for salaries,” emphasized Volodymyr Topchiy.

The head of the commission, Fedir Panchenko, asked whether the zoo director proposes inviting the head of the culture department, Yurii Lyubarov, to the discussion.

“No. I propose that this issue not be forgotten and not be left without attention,” replied Topchiy.

Panchenko noted that the raised issue is addressed primarily to the city council’s finance department. At the same time, no specific sources to cover a possible shortfall were named during this part of the meeting.

“We need to start thinking now about where to take the money from. I don’t know, but the cultural institutions remain without funding,” the zoo director summed up.

Thus, this is currently a public warning from the head of a municipal institution, not an official announcement about the cessation of payments. The final decision will depend on further amendments to the Mykolaiv budget and the allocation of additional funding.

Earlier we wrote:

• Mykolaiv lacks over 50 mln UAH for salaries in culture: positions and library branches under threat
• There is money, but not for everyone: Mykolaiv increased the budget, although culture remains on the brink of survival
• In Mykolaiv money for salaries of “budget” employees is running out
• Mykolaiv risks delays in salaries of culture and education workers
• Mykolaiv’s music schools risk closure due to lack of funds