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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
In Ukraine, at least 30 of the country's lawmakers receive from the state budget a monthly amount of 19,5 thousand UAH as a housing rent allowance in the capital. Under current law, these funds are provided to out-of-town parliamentarians so they can rent a residence while working in Kyiv.
This is reported by OBOZ.UA.
A significant portion of lawmakers prefer to live in state hotels, notably in the well-known Kyiv hotel complex. Meanwhile, other deputies take money from taxpayers' pockets and rent enormous apartments in the most expensive residential complexes in the capital. All this happens amid a threefold increase since 2026 year in the size of so-called deputy stipends for fulfilling powers—each member of parliament now receives about 200 thousand UAH per month in addition to their base salary.
Yet such a substantial funding increase does not prevent certain lawmakers from continuing to file relevant requests and demanding even more budget money to cover housing rent.
Who and what they spend the state housing allowance on
Parliamentarians exercise their right to housing compensation entirely legally: the law provides that if a deputy does not own housing in the capital or its suburbs, they are entitled to a monthly cash aid from the budget.
For example, Maxym Berezin from the Servant of the People faction receives 19,5 thousand UAH monthly from the state treasury for rent. According to his declaration, he lives in a spacious apartment of 86,8 square meters. The owner of this property is 71-year-old Svitlana Haidutska — wife of the renowned academician of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences Pavlo Haidutsky.
As it turned out, the stated apartment is located in a prestigious government quarter, albeit in a building from an older departmental fund. Similar properties in this district are rented at an average price of about 30 thousand UAH per month, mainly due to its exclusive location. The deputy does not own property in Kyiv, and his name lists only several land plots in Poltava region.
His faction colleague Kyrylo Nesterenko is officially registered in a dormitory of the Ministry of Education and Science in Dnipro. Since September 2019 year, this 32-year-old deputy rents a fairly large apartment — 106,9 square meters — owned by Oleksiy Kolesnichenko. The funds for this housing are also received from the state budget. The exact location of this real estate object could not be determined.
Another Servant of the People representative, Oleksandr Kunaev, takes the housing allowance from the budget to live in one of the most expensive and luxurious housing complexes in the capital. Since January 2024, he has rented an apartment of 113,6 square meters in the Sergei Korzhaev property. This refers to the prestigious residential complex "Boulevard of Fountains," located in the heart of Pechersk district.
Clearly, Kunaev lacks the 19,5 thousand UAH allocated by the state: according to current listings on realtor platforms, renting a dwelling of similar size in this residential complex costs at least from 76 thousand UAH per month. Before joining the Verkhovna Rada, Kunaev held leadership positions at JSC Motor Sich. Now the deputy is 34 years old.
Deputy Anton Shvachko (also from Servant of the People) rents housing of 60,2 square meters in the care of Marina Yevtushenko. The editors managed to determine that this apartment is located in the very center of the capital — on Institutska Street (Heroes of the National Heaven's Hundred Alley), just a few minutes’ walk from the parliament building.
Pavlo Yakimenko from Servant of the People has been renting a gigantic apartment of 2025 square meters since January 156,7. The property is owned by 67-year-old agribusinessman Hennadiy Lapitsky. The latter privately owns at least 53 real estate objects, including luxurious apartments in Kyiv’s most elite residential complexes: Busov Hill, Novopecherski Lipky, and PecherSKY. The total value of Lapitsky's real estate assets runs into tens of millions of dollars.
The apartment of 156,7 square meters is located in the Busov Hill complex, where the monthly rent for similar spaces currently starts from 1,5 thousand US dollars.
Not only luxurious apartments: where else do deputies live
At the same time, a number of lawmakers indicate in their official declarations more modest options — renting ordinary hotel rooms or small apartments. Some deputies also choose fairly restrained real estate without claims to luxury.
Specifically, Servant of the People member Oleh Bondarenko rents a relatively compact apartment of 57,7 square meters. Meanwhile, the politician has owned an apartment in Kharkiv since 1999 year. His colleague Ihor Fris has long lived in a regular hotel room (likely at the state-owned Kyiv hotel, located near the Verkhovna Rada). Deputy Anatolii Kostyukh rented an apartment of 63,4 square meters.
At the same time, some lawmakers who previously actively used the allowances later voluntarily gave up this practice and stopped applying for budget funds. For example, Yevhen Petryniak from Servant of the People received housing benefits until the end of 2022 year, but did not submit a new application for 2023 year.
According to declarations, the deputy and his wife own 36 real estate objects, including 12 residential buildings. Furthermore, in September 2022 year the politician's wife, Iryna, became the official owner of a foreign apartment of 130,84 square meters in Spain.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Депутатські компенсації на розкіш: хто з нардепів бере гроші з бюджету на оренду елітного житла в Києві". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: HAB Media.
