In Pivdennoukrainsk, city council members held a session after a long hiatus

In Pivdennoukrainsk, Mykolaiv Oblast, city council members finally convened and adjourned the 69th session of the city council, having secured the necessary quorum after a long period during which they had been unable to do so.

This information came to light during the broadcast of the meeting.

At the start of the session, 18 of the 34 council members and Mayor Valerii Onufrienko were present, ensuring the necessary quorum. Onufrienko himself was also present in the session hall .

The session began at 10:00 a.m. and ended around 2:30 p.m. Over the course of four and a half hours, with two short breaks, the council members considered more than a hundred agenda items.

The council approved the Community’s Socio-Economic Development Program for 2026–2027 and an update to the Community Development Strategy. Afterward, the council members moved on to the largest block on the agenda—land issues.

The elected representatives reviewed dozens of draft resolutions regarding the granting of permits to develop land-use planning documentation, the approval of technical documentation for citizens and businesses, the renewal of land lease agreements, and the establishment of easements.

Members of the South Ukrainian City Council did not support an appeal to central authorities regarding the conditions for implementing medical reform and preserving maternity wards in local communities.

The authors of the appeal requested a review of the criteria for entering into contracts under the “Medical Care During Childbirth” program, lowering the requirements regarding the number of births and the proportion of cesarean sections.

They also called for ensuring that maternity wards in small communities can operate regardless of the number of births, if they are the only ones available or provide access to medical care for a large area, as well as for amending the Medical Guarantees Program to account for the specific circumstances of communities with low population density.

“Perhaps the National Health Service of Ukraine, together with the Ministry of Health, will take our requests into account in the future, and our voices will be heard. Moreover, this situation exists throughout Ukraine. I know that many local communities are initiating similar appeals, so I ask for your support,” Olena Petryna told the deputies.

However, during the vote, the resolution did not receive the required number of votes. Ten deputies voted in favor of the appeal, which meant it was not adopted.

A proposal to establish a commission to oversee the construction of a shelter near Lyceum No. 4 also failed to gain the deputies’ support.

Deputy Olena Petryna proposed appealing to the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada, and the Cabinet of Ministers to return 40 billion hryvnias to the Ministry of Defense for the purchase of weapons and support for military personnel. However, this appeal also failed to receive the necessary support.

What Is Known About the Crisis in Pivdennoukrainsk

For a long time, members of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council did not convene for sessions— meetings were constantly being canceled . The situation reached the point where the city still did not have an approved budget for 2026.

A group of council members appealed to the city council secretary to convene a session on June 12. However, even then, the meeting could not take place—the secretary took the keys to the chamber and denied the council members access to both the premises and the voting system.

Due to the council’s prolonged inability to convene, Mayor Valerii Onufrienko appealed to the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, Vitalii Kim, requesting that a military administration be established in the community.

On July 2, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree establishing the South Ukrainian City Military Administration. It was headed by Ivan Kukhta, the former head of the Snigurivka City Military Administration.

Ірина Глухова