The Mykolaiv Zoo has debts of around ₴2 million due to payment delays by the Treasury

The Mykolaiv Zoo is in debt to the tune of around ₴2 million due to payment delays by the Treasury. Photo: Mykolaiv Zoo

The Mykolaiv Zoo has debts of around 2 million hryvnias for animal feed and utility bills due to payment delays by the Treasury.

This was revealed by the director of the Mykolaiv Zoo, Volodymyr Topchyi, during a meeting of the Mykolaiv City Council’s budget committee and a session on 2 October, according to NikVesti.

According to Volodymyr Topchiy, as things stand, the zoo is unable to pay bills totalling approximately 2 million hryvnias.

«Our current debt for feed and utilities amounts to around 2 million hryvnias. The Treasury is not paying our bills. What are we to do? Tomorrow I will have nothing to feed the animals with,» said the zoo director.

He clarified that around 1.8 million hryvnias of this is debt from September. According to Volodymyr Topchyi, feed suppliers are already warning that they may stop deliveries if payment is not made.

The feed suppliers say: «We won’t deliver the feed unless you pay,» he noted.

He also raised this issue during the council meeting.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych noted that he is aware of this problem and that such payments have not been made for two weeks. He explained that this is due to issues with the state budget.

«There’s nothing I can do about the Treasury. We’ve asked them to process all these payments, which are classified as priority. They’re all waiting in the queue, just like the replenishment of the water utility’s statutory fund, which needs to settle its water bills. Is the issue of water supply important for Mykolaiv? It, too, is on hold. There are problems at the moment; we’ve all heard about them,» said the mayor.

It should be noted that the government has postponed funding for non-critical construction, repairs and public improvement works. The decision was taken due to the difficult budgetary situation, in order to channel funds towards defence and priority social expenditure.

The government has prioritised expenditure on defence, pensions and social benefits, as well as salaries for public sector employees. At the same time, it is proposed that funding for non-priority projects be postponed. Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi has also called on local authorities to review the priorities of their budgets and limit the relevant expenditure.

The government had previously announced a regime of austerity for budget funds not earmarked for defence needs. At the same time, social obligations, in particular the payment of pensions and salaries, must be met.

It should be recalled that on the evening of 4 September and during the night of 5 September, Russian forces launched several drone attacks on a shopping centre in Mykolaiv. It is located next to the zoo.

However, the animals at Mykolaiv Zoo were not harmed during the Russian attack on «Epicentre». At the time of the strikes, they were in enclosed enclosures.