By the end of 2026, the city will be short 819 million hryvnias, says Senkevych

Mykolaiv risks being left without capital expenditures in 2027. Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych voiced this concern on November 6 during a session of the Mykolaiv City Council. As early as November, the city is short of money for salaries and water utility operations.

The discussion was prompted by a request from council member Olena Kiselova, who asked that next year’s budget include funds to purchase premises for a shelter for the Academy of Children’s Creativity. According to her, a working group has already considered the possibility and supported the purchase. However, one more opinion is still awaited before a final decision can be made.

The mayor responded that funding sources need to be determined together with council members during budget preparations. The city is short of 819 million hryvnias through the end of 2026, and requests for assistance from the central government have so far yielded no results.

“So, together with you, we will once again receive a list of capital expenditures from our chief budget administrators and decide on them together. What I’m worried about—and very afraid of—is that we may have no capital expenditures at all next year. In other words, we might be able to finish something, add the final touches, or complete projects that we started this year and are almost finished. We’re not planning to initiate any other large new projects. So we’ll decide together,” said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Capital expenditures include not only construction and repairs but also essential purchases, such as equipment. The mayor illustrated how much this year’s requests from budget administrators had to be cut by pointing to the expenses already approved:

“We have 316 million hryvnias in capital expenditures. Let me remind you that the list of capital expenditures submitted by our various chief budget administrators amounted to around three billion hryvnias and something more. We cut that figure from three billion hryvnias and something more to 316 million. That includes the purchase of furniture and some important items, because the capital expenditures we make also cover small purchases. If, for instance, we open a shelter, we need to buy furniture for it, as well as other items that are not included in the reconstruction project,” explained Oleksandr Sienkevych.

We previously reported:

• There isn’t enough money for everything: Mykolaiv’s budget forecast fails twice
• Mykolaiv asks the state for UAH 819.1 million to meet the community’s urgent needs
• There isn’t enough money: construction, repairs, and improvements are being postponed across Ukraine
• “A fine job of managing”: Mykolaiv is out of money — Sienkevych talks about unpaid leave
• “There won’t be enough money even for salaries”: Sienkevych warns of tough selection of projects for funding