Ukrainians demand that the government prohibit the allocation of funds for non-military expenditures

19.09.2023

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Kyiv residents have been attempting for some time to persuade local authorities to allocate more funds for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the territorial defense forces (ZSU) instead of projects unrelated to resisting Russian aggression or protecting the population. Initially, there were isolated pickets at locations where the Kyiv authorities were carrying out road repair works—such as relocating cobblestones and replacing curbs funded by the budget.

On September 16, 2023, young people, volunteers, and activists gathered near the Kyiv City Council building and the office of the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko. Several hundred people demanded that money from the city’s budget be allocated to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine instead of relocating cobblestones and developing entertainment and leisure venues. The participants of the protest splattered red paint on the Kyiv City Council sign.

«Could you please tell me why they are dismantling the cobblestones on Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street right now? Moreover, the aged cobblestones. In ordinary times, I think this question wouldn’t bother me and most people because everything would be clear. But now? What is the urgent need at the moment? 300 million UAH ($8 million)», — questioned Inna Kovalchuk in her post.

Therefore, despite the prohibition on holding any events during the state of war, young people gathered on Khreshchatyk and tried to draw attention to the issue of spending money not on defeating the enemy.

Prior to this, a petition titled “Stop irresponsible spending during the war on stadiums, park landscaping, cobblestone paving, roads, and other non-critical expenses during the war” was registered on the website of the Office of the President of Ukraine. The petition requests the president to urgently introduce to the Verkhovna Rada a bill banning the allocation of funds from local and state budgets for non-critical expenses during the state of war and to allocate the remaining funds in budget accounts after providing for critical army needs. It also asks to legislatively define truly critical needs during the war, for which budget funds can be allocated.

«Ukraine has been at war for the second year. But most officials seem to have forgotten about it. They have returned to pre-war corrupt schemes. Purchases of unnecessary goods and services during the war are again being made. Moreover, at prices inflated several times from companies with which there was a prior agreement. In other words, officials are lining their pockets at the expense of budget funds», — the petition reads, which garnered almost 11,000 votes in 10 days.

According to the analysis of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, the largest cities in Ukraine allocated about 2% of their budgets to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the lowest percentages seen in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Brovary, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Ternopil. In total, over the course of one and a half years, city councils spent nearly 10 billion UAH, or only 7% of their budgets, on supporting the Armed Forces.

In terms of percentage, the city councils of Mukachevo, Khmelnytskyi, and Zhytomyr spent the most on funding the defense sector. Mukachevo allocated 740 million UAH, or 26% of the city’s budget, to support the Armed Forces. The Khmelnytskyi City Council spent 21% of its budget on supporting the Armed Forces, while Zhytomyr spent 20%. High levels of financial support for the Armed Forces were also seen in Lviv (10%), Berdychiv, and Chernivtsi (9%).

In total, city councils spent nearly 10 billion UAH (approximately $270 million) on supporting the Armed Forces over the course of one and a half years.

The majority of these funds were directed towards financial and material support for the Armed Forces. In Kyiv, under the city’s target program «Defender of Kyiv», actual funding for program tasks was 829 million UAH (approximately $22.4 million) in 2022 and 300 million UAH (approximately $8 million) in 2023. In Dnipro, out of a total of 1.2 billion UAH (approximately $32 million) allocated for the defense sector, 1 billion UAH (approximately $27 million) was spent on financial and material support for the Armed Forces.

Some of the funds were directed by city councils towards the treatment, rehabilitation, and social support of servicemen, their families, and the families of the fallen. Another area of expenditure was the purchase of military bonds. Khmelnytskyi City Council reported the purchase of military bonds for 600 million UAH (approximately $16 million), while Chernivtsi City Council reported a purchase of 140 million UAH (approximately $3.8 million).

Continuation of the protest

The following Saturday, on September 23, the protest was repeated at the same location. Several members of the Kyiv City Council joined the protest, demanding a redistribution of funds taking into account the state of war. However, pro-government deputies from the UDAR party held a different position.

«The demands are specific. In addition to supporting defense, ramps in shelters, hospitals, and shelters in schools and kindergartens were added. It was reported that Kyiv will allocate 120 million for ramps in shelters. This week. And that there will be no tenders for non-critical items. Soon the budget for 2024 will also come to the council», — wrote deputy Ksenia Semenova regarding this matter.

According to another participant in the protest, military serviceman Oleg Symoroz, the Kyiv authorities tried to impose on the participants of the action the option of creating a working group to consider the budget for the capital for 2024. In his opinion, this will only prolong the process.

«I draw the attention of all concerned and active citizens of Kyiv that today, deputies of Kyiv City Council from the ‘UDAR of Vitali Klitschko’ faction and Klitschko’s deputy – the secretary of Kyiv City Council, diploma falsifier Volodymyr Bondarenko, came to the community action. They attempted to drown out the protest and reduce everything to ‘working groups with representatives of the community.’ From experience, I know that such things would not lead to anything good. That is why we clearly stated that the authorities have no time left, and we are not going to play games with the so-called ‘working groups.’ They had a year and a half, and they did nothing, so now there can be no compromises and lengthy discussions», — wrote Symoroz.

Non-military expenditures

However, major cities in Ukraine continue to spend millions of hryvnias on projects that have no relation to the defense of the country against the Russian aggressor. Recent examples include the Kyiv Tourism Development Center under the Kyiv City State Administration ordering the production and installation of two steel 3D structures in the form of the city’s logo and the Archangel Michael for 600 thousand hryvnias ($16 thousand). The first structure consists of two-meter mirrored letters KYIV made of stainless steel, and the second is a two-meter figure of Archangel Michael gilded with titanium nitride.

In the early summer of 2023, the Kyiv authorities decided to purchase sand for approximately 6.5 million hryvnias ($176 thousand). According to this information, the municipal enterprise of the Kyiv City State Administration for the protection, maintenance, and operation of water fund lands «Pleso» acted as the customer. After the scandal in the Ukrainian media, the Kyiv authorities decided to cancel the tender.

One of the most scandalous tenders was the procurement by the Education Department of Dniprovsky District in Kyiv:

Procurement of 12 sets of food processing equipment for over 1.5 million hryvnias ($40.6 thousand) in December 2022 with a note “for shelters”,
In April 2023, a tender was announced titled “Musical instruments for psychological relief of children in shelters during air alarms” for almost 891 thousand hryvnias ($24 thousand),
In April 2023, there was a tender titled “Constructors for play and learning in shelters during air alarms” for almost 953 thousand hryvnias ($26 thousand) of the budgetary funds.

Later, it was revealed that during the war, the Education Department of Dniprovsky District in Kyiv spent 400 thousand hryvnias ($11 thousand) from the budget on renovating one classroom for 200 students in a lyceum, and 1.8 million hryvnias ($50 thousand) on renovating the shelter of this institution.

Several similar scandals had serious consequences. For instance, the Minister of Culture, Oleksandr Tkachenko, was forced to resign after announcing the implementation of a project called “Trident of the Motherland,” which cost 28 million hryvnias ($760 thousand). According to him, the funds for this project were provided by patrons and entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, this sparked condemnation from part of the public. With this money, during the active phase of the war, they did what had not been done in all the years of Ukraine’s independence—removed the Soviet coat of arms from the shield of the “Motherland-Mother” monument and replaced it with the Trident. This was done before Ukraine’s Independence Day, although it cost Tkachenko his ministerial position.