Fines for violations of the language law: Odesa region ranks second in Ukraine by number of rulings

Odesa region is among the top three regions of Ukraine by the number of rulings in cases of administrative violations of language legislation. Since the beginning of 2026, 189 rulings related to non‑compliance with the language law have been issued in the region.

This was reported on October 1, 2026, by the Office of the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language.

By the number of such rulings, Odesa region ranks second in Ukraine. More were recorded only in Kyiv — 242 rulings. In third place is Kharkiv Oblast, where 85 rulings were issued. Overall, as of 28 September 2026, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, Olena Ivanovska, has issued 689 rulings in cases of administrative violations of the language legislation.

In 344 cases offenders were given warnings, and in a further 101 cases fines were imposed.

The amount of imposed fines ranged from 1,700 to 11,900 hryvnias. In 2026 the total amount of fines exceeded 479 thousand hryvnias. For comparison, during the entire 2025 fines totaling nearly 369 thousand hryvnias were imposed. The largest number of rulings this year concerned the consumer service sector — 316, which represents 46% of the total number of rulings issued.

It is separately noted that recently in the Odesa region the head, two officials and three deputies of the Budzha settlement council received protocols for violations of the language legislation. The reason was the use of the Russian language during a session of the settlement council.

Previously we wrote:

• In Odesa region, protocols over the Russian language were issued to six session participants
• Russian in the building chat: who faces a warning and a fine of up to 6,800 UAH
• Fines for Russian in school chats: the ombudswoman reminded parents and teachers of the rules
• Russian language, signs and books: four protocols were issued to the “Masky” theater in Odesa
• Fines up to 11,900 UAH: the shipbuilding business was once again inspected for compliance with the language law