Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
If there is a shortage of money, the Cabinet should submit amendments to the state budget to parliament—2026—rather than cutting expenditures on its own.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has no right to stop payments without a decision of the Verkhovna Rada that communities rely on to protect energy infrastructure, prepare for the heating season, and recover after missile strikes. This was stated on the Apostrophe TV channel by Oksana Prodan, adviser to the head of the Association of Cities of Ukraine. Earlier, the chair of the parliament's budget committee, Roksolana Pidlas, reported that the Ministry of Finance postponed capital expenditures of 39 billion hryvnias until December.
Prodan was a member of parliament in the VII and VIII convocations and a member of the Tax Committee. She emphasized that the state budget is a law under which the government, all ministries, and the Ministry of Finance operate. “Therefore, without a decision of the Verkhovna Rada in a parliamentary-presidential republic, the government cannot allow itself: to want or not want, to pay or not pay,” she said.
If there is a shortage of money, the government must prepare amendments to the budget—2026—in advance and bring them to parliament. “If there are problems with funds, if there are problems in the treasury account, the government is obliged to see this not yesterday or today, but in advance; they 100% see this,” Prodan said. According to her, government officials could have explained the situation during the government question time, but they were not present on the government's day in parliament.
The AMU adviser drew attention to a contradiction. Last week the new government allocated 1,8 billion hryvnias from the State Fund for Regional Development to 113 projects that, in her view, “are definitely not priorities.” Among them is water supply, although Ukraine could attract money for that from international partners, including UN programs. “So the government has no right to say there is no money,” Prodan believes.
She also noted that the government has not officially announced the postponement of payments; the figures were released by Pidlas. The Cabinet has already submitted a draft budget for next year to the Rada. In Prodan's view, with such statements the government “plans to blackmail members of parliament.”
The Association of Cities of Ukraine unites 1092 communities, and they are all now preparing for winter. “All these communities are waiting for any assistance from the government, because the government today owes 85 billion hryvnias to heating companies, which it is not returning and does not plan to return,” the adviser said.
In spring the previous government promised to allocate 278 billion hryvnias for resilience plans for the heating season. According to Prodan, no community received these funds directly, and the Renewal Agency was allocated less than one-tenth of the sum.
Communities are asking the government to return 85 billion hryvnias in tariff differences and to refrain from raising the price of gas for budgetary institutions. Another demand: guarantee gas supplies and allow municipal enterprises to use it for cogeneration. “The government, even before this statement by Ms. Pidlas, was not hurrying to perform its functions, not hurrying to fulfill its obligations to municipalities in preparing for the heating season. But at least not to harm—that the government can actually do even without additional funding,” Prodan emphasized. She also reminded that the state has still not allocated money to communities for child meals through the end of the year.
The government has already moved into maximum austerity mode and has postponed all non-priority expenditures. Money is going first and foremost to defense, pensions, and salaries for budget sector employees, while construction, repairs, and beautification have been put on pause. In September 30, Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky reported that the Cabinet adopted 17 of 42 decisions on which international assistance depends. Earlier he warned that without the necessary laws Ukraine risks receiving significantly less of the 29,5 billion dollars in financing by the end of the year.
The problem of debts to heat providers has been dragging on for more than a year. At the end of 2025, AMU reported that the state had not reimbursed heating companies the tariff differences for more than 64 billion hryvnias, and the accounts of heating companies in 14 communities were blocked.
Journalist Vladyslav Obukh examined what energy and municipal services managed to do over the summer and what they will not have time to complete before the cold in the ZN.UA article “What energy sector managed to do over the summer and what it definitely will not finish before the cold.”
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "В Асоціації міст заявили, що уряд порушує бюджетний закон, заморожуючи виплати". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.