Mykolaiv officials spent hundreds of thousands from the budget on foreign trips

During the full-scale war, officials of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration and City Council actively used official trips abroad to participate in conferences, training programs, and exchange of experience. In total, they spent more than 1.1 million hryvnias on business trips abroad.

This was reported by Nikcenter.

Vitalii Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, spent 19 days abroad in three years, visiting Berlin, Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Hanover. The longest trip lasted ten days, during which he met with representatives of governments, business conferences, and foreign municipalities. Kim' s total travel expenses amounted to almost 30 thousand hryvnias.

Mykola Marinov, Deputy Head of the Regional State Administration for Economic Development, was the most active in foreign trips. He visited Hanover three times, participated in signing partnership agreements with Lower Saxony twice, and took part in business forums in Switzerland. In total, over three and a half years, the official spent 25 days on business trips, which cost more than 57 thousand hryvnias.

During the war, the first deputy head of the DIA, Heorhiy Reshetilov, made only one foreign business trip to Hanover for six days, with expenses of over UAH 8,000.

The heads of the patronage service and its advisors also traveled abroad: Oleksandra Kukuruza, Viktoriya Oliynyk and Nelli Yarovenko. They visited Brussels, the United States, Denmark, Germany, and Paris, participating in EU qualification programs, government programs, and charitable projects for children affected by war. The total cost of their trips amounted to almost UAH 100 thousand.

In addition, the heads of departments and offices of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, including Oleksandr Koroliov, Director of the Economic Development Department, Alla Velikhovska, Director of the Education Department, and heads of cultural departments, also attended foreign events, trainings, and exhibitions. About 90 thousand hryvnias were spent on their business trips.

In total, since the beginning of the full-scale war, the management, patronage service, and employees of the departments have spent more than UAH 283 thousand on foreign trips, while Mykolaiv utilities and city council officials alone have spent almost UAH 909 thousand on business trips over almost three and a half years.

In 2024, the deputy mayor of Mykolaiv, Serhii Korenev, spent 111 thousand hryvnias on foreign business trips, while the trips of the mayor , Oleksandr Senkevych, cost the budget 54.5 thousand hryvnias. Most municipal enterprises reported that they did not have any foreign business trips or did not use budget funds for them.

Анна Бальчінос