19 October 2026
(PHOTO: suspilne.media)
In 2025, the Odesa City Council’s representative fund increased by 25% to 280 million hryvnias, or 5 million per council member. At the same time, five council members who had been absent from sessions were stripped of their right to manage these funds, while nine of their colleagues donated part or all of their funds to support the Defense Forces.
This is stated in a report by the analytical center “Rukh CHESNO.”
After a reduction of 25 million hryvnias due to the five deputies’ absences from session meetings, the adjusted fund total amounted to 255 million hryvnias. The following deputies were stripped of their right to manage the funds: Nikita Avdeev, Bohdan Giganov, Oleksandr Matveev, Vitaliy Sautonkov, and Ivan Semchuk.
In total, the deputies allocated nearly 26 million hryvnias to the Department of Municipal Security for military needs. In particular, council members Oleg Bryndak and Serhiy Danylyuk donated their entire council funds to defense, while Zhanna Mandrychenko and Olga Kvasnytska each transferred nearly four million hryvnias for these purposes.
Most deputies, however, chose to spend budget funds on civilian projects.
According to Viktoria Sobko, coordinator of the nationwide civic campaign “Evaluation of Local Council Members,” Odessa’s council member fund remains one of the largest. For example, in 2025, the city ranked second among Ukraine’s regional centers in terms of the size of its council member fund.
She explained that, according to an expert analysis, Odessa’s council members allocated the most funds to healthcare, municipal services, and education.
Specifically, over 100 million hryvnias were spent on the Department of Health. The Department of Municipal Services came in second—receiving about 70 million hryvnias—while over 27 million were allocated to education. Some deputies did not use their funds or did not use them in full.
“It is important that this mechanism remains transparent and understandable to the community: decisions on the allocation of funds must be well-founded, and residents must be able to track exactly where budget resources were directed and what results were achieved,” notes Viktoria Sobko.
In general, funds from the deputy fund in Odesa may be allocated either for capital expenditures in the districts or directly to support the Ukrainian military. However, the deputy does not receive this money in cash. The funds remain in the community budget, and the elected official merely specifies the specific purposes for which they should be allocated.
In 2025, deputy funds were active in nine regional centers across Ukraine and totaled over half a billion hryvnias. Odesa was among the cities where these expenditures grew the most (in Zaporizhzhia—25%, in Lviv—33%). By comparison, the city councils of Lutsk and Cherkasy opted out of establishing deputy funds altogether last year.
Юлія Калабайда