₴60 million has been allocated for children’s meals in nurseries, funds which had been set aside to cover loans taken out by Mykolaiv’s municipal enterprises

Children sitting at the table whilst eating. Illustrative photo from the ‘Education and Science’ website

An additional 60 million hryvnias has been allocated from Mykolaiv’s budget to provide meals for children in nurseries. To this end, the city has drawn down the contingency fund set aside in the budget in case municipal enterprises are unable to repay loans from international banks on their own.

Councillors passed the relevant resolution at a city council meeting today, 9 July, according to NikVesti.

Mykolaiv’s mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, explained that there is now almost no spare money left in the city’s budget.

«Once we realised we would not receive funds to finance meals for children in nurseries, the decision was taken to find funds within the budget itself. Wherever you look, funds are needed: salaries here, utilities there, public investments there — most of which are co-funded — our shelters, canteens in those very schools,» said the mayor.

That is why the city has even reviewed its contingency expenditure, explained Oleksandr Sienkevych.

— We had set aside guarantees in case our utility companies, which have loans from international banking institutions, were unable to make payments. Therefore, by law and at the request of the Ministry of Finance, we were obliged to include these in the budget. In fact, we approached the Ministry of Finance twice regarding the fact that we do not have enough money in the budget. Consequently, a decision was taken and put before the relevant budget committee — and was in fact supported — to withdraw the funds we need to provide meals for children in nurseries, namely 60 million hryvnias, from the municipal guarantees,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

However, these funds are sufficient to provide meals for children in nurseries until October 2026. In total, 80 million 607 thousand hryvnias are required by the end of the year.

Budget shortfall

It should be recalled that at the session of the Mykolaiv City Council on 28 May, it was reported that by the end of 2026, the city would be short of almost 150 million hryvnias for providing meals for children in educational institutions. Of this, over 109 million hryvnias is required for nurseries, over 33 million hryvnias for co-funding school meals, and a further 7 million hryvnias for special schools and vocational education institutions.

At the time, city councillors appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada, requesting that additional funding be allocated to Mykolaiv from the state budget.

In June, the Executive Committee of the Mykolaiv City Council reallocated 864,500 hryvnias for meals in nurseries. At the time, the city council noted that these funds would only last until the end of the summer, after which the city council would seek additional funding. There is currently a shortfall of 60 million hryvnias required to finalise the contract for meals in nurseries.

At the end of June, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine refused Mykolaiv’s request for 150 million hryvnias to organise meals in educational institutions. The ministry explained that these expenditure items for nurseries and vocational education institutions should be funded from the local authority budget, and also highlighted the growth in the city’s budget revenue.

On 1 July, the Government allocated a grant of 187.5 million hryvnias to fund school meals for pupils in the Mykolaiv region between September and November 2026.

Earlier, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych stated that Mykolaiv’s 2026 budget was a «survival budget» and did not cover all the community’s needs. According to him, the city lacks the funds to implement the state-initiated pay rise for teachers, pay for utilities, repair roads and cover other expenditure.

Back at the start of the year, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych reported that the Ministry of Finance would analyse Mykolaiv’s financial situation to assess the city’s need for additional funding. At the same time, he emphasised that the final decision depends not only on the Ministry of Finance’s calculations, but also on the political will of parliament.