People line up at three in the morning: in Mykolaiv residents complain about difficulties obtaining "Winter Support"
Up to 200 people in line for 19.4 thousand: what’s happening near Mykolaiv social protection offices
In Mykolaiv residents complain about long queues at district departments of social protection, where documents for the one-time assistance “Winter Support” are accepted. According to people, they begin signing up on the lists in the middle of the night, and pensioners, people with disabilities and parents with small children wait for hours outside to be received. The problem was reported on 18 September 2026 in a post to the Contact Center at Mykolaiv City Council by resident Halyna Shcherba: reported
“In Mykolaiv, unlike many other cities, submitting an application to participate in the state program ‘Winter Support’ is possible only at district departments of social protection of the population. As a result, the initiative intended to support vulnerable categories of citizens has effectively turned into a separate ordeal both for applicants and for the employees of these institutions. Eligible to participate in the program are, in particular, persons with disabilities, large families, single mothers, single incapacitated pensioners, families with children with disabilities, etc. It is these people who are forced to sign up in queue from the night and stand for hours outside awaiting reception. Mostly these are mothers with small children, elderly people, persons with disabilities. During air-raid alerts the acceptance of applications is suspended, which additionally increases the waiting time. At the same time, official explanations state that in different communities an application can be submitted through the service centers of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, CNAPs and local self-government bodies,” wrote Halyna Shcherba.
“Winter Support” provides a one-time payment of 19,400 hryvnias per household for certain vulnerable categories of the population in frontline territories. The Cabinet approved the program for the 2026/2027 heating season. In total, assistance is planned for more than 380 thousand households, in which about 1 million people live. Applications are accepted until 30 October 2026.
In the comments other Mykolaiv residents described similar situations. Tetyana Semenova reported that in the Inhulskyi district people start signing up on the paper list from about 03:00. Tetyana Lysenko told of a neighbor who called a taxi at 04:00, but even then ended up already 17th in line. Eventually she managed to submit her documents.
An even more difficult situation was described by Svitlana Malakhovska: her 90-year-old father arrived at the institution at 05:30, but was already 191st on the list.
“Today my father at 5:30 was 191st. He is 90 years old, he is unlikely to get in today. How much longer will he have the strength to keep going there? This is not the first time he has gone,” wrote Svitlana Malakhovska.
Tetyana Danylenko also wrote that her acquaintances saw a queue of about 200 people, while, in her words, about 80 applicants are handled in one day. These figures are testimonies of residents on social media, not official statistics of the city authorities.
“An 80-year-old pensioner who lives alone was refused during a telephone consultation because she is not disabled and not an IDP. So it is unknown what category ‘single incapacitated person of pension age’ is,” complained resident Tatyana Zharenova.“So in the Inhulskyi district they introduced a paper list where you have to sign up from the night. Then they call people according to that list. Why can’t they make an electronic queue?” wondered Olha Yudina.
Korabelov.info reported that in Mykolaiv applications for assistance are accepted at citizen service departments of the social protection department on a territorial basis. For residents of the Korablevnyi district the address is: Dmytra Petukhova St., 1/1, phone 093 013 48 78. Reception will continue until 30 October 2026.
The official Cabinet resolution provides several mechanisms for submitting applications depending on the source of funding for the assistance. These can be territorial bodies of the Pension Fund, CNAPs or authorized local government bodies. For some payments funded by international and humanitarian organizations, applications are submitted through local management bodies. The Ministry of Social Policy separately emphasizes: all people who meet the program conditions and manage to submit an application by the established deadline should receive the provided assistance. That is, there is no need to file documents specifically in the first days of the program.
Air-raid alerts additionally complicate the problem. Earlier in Mykolaiv they already discussed the possibility of organizing CNAPs to operate in shelters so that prolonged alerts would not paralyze the provision of services to residents.
Earlier we wrote:
- Without a new application: some IDPs will have payments extended for half a year
- Mykolaiv residents are being prepared for winter aid of 19,400 UAH: who can apply — in Mykolaiv
- In Mykolaiv they are considering accepting CNAP visitors in shelters
- In Mykolaiv they approved providing over 622 thousand hryvnias in assistance to residents
- Heating funds from international organizations: a “hotline” will be opened in the Korablevnyi district
