Offshore Near a Holy Site: How Uman’s Tourist Fee Dissolved on an Israeli Website

If Ukraine’s Tax Code requires daily payment of the tourist fee according to a precise mathematical formula, in Uman during Rosh ha-Shanah its own laws of physics and finance traditionally apply. While city officials on camera cite legal norms about percentages of the minimum wage, tens of thousands of pilgrims quietly enter the city with promotional tickets for 27 dollars, paid on a foreign website bearing the city council’s coat of arms, which disappears from the web right after the holiday. Instead of filling the city treasury with millions of hryvnias for cleaning and infrastructure, the authorities philosophically shrug: better a bird in the hand on an unknown account than attempts to force guests to live by Ukrainian law.

What’s wrong with the tourist fee in Uman? Hasidim are offered to pay for the right to stay in the Ukrainian city through… an Israeli website, notes the publication “Glavcom.”

In early September about 50 thousand pilgrims came to Uman for Rosh ha-Shanah. The Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Asman, said that during the holiday period pilgrims paid 25 million hryvnias in tourist fees to the city budget.

According to city authorities, this year the official rate for foreigners in Uman is:

216,18 UAH/day – in hotels, hostels and other hotel-type establishments;

432,35 UAH/day – in apartments, buildings and rooms.

For the tourist fee to reach the local budget, it is collected through a tax agent, one of which in Uman is the municipal enterprise Komunalnyk. The fee can be paid by bank transfer, via the Privat24 app, self-service terminals, POS terminals or SWIFT transfer. When paying the tax the pilgrim indicates the number of days of stay. After that they receive a receipt with a QR code that allows them to enter the city through checkpoints.

In response to journalists’ inquiries, Uman authorities outlined the payment methods for the tourist fee. But for some reason they “forgot” about one more…

However, there is another route. In August of this year Bratslav Hasidic organizations began circulating notices urging people to pay the tourist fee at a fixed price – $27 for the entire stay. In other words, no matter how many days you spend in Uman, you only pay this amount. Although, according to the law, the fee should be charged for each night of stay. For example, for six nights in the private sector a pilgrim should have paid 2594 UAH, whereas through the online service offered by Bratslav Hasidim – about 1161 UAH.

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Hasidim are offered to pay the tourist fee online at a fixed amount lower than the official rate

photo: glavcom.ua

“Glavcom” investigated who organized this unprecedented generosity auction for pilgrims, how the scheme works and how much the local budget may be missing out on.

Why the tourist fee for Hasidim amounts to $27

The Union of Bratslav Hasidim offers pilgrims to pay fixed $27 for the entire Rosh ha-Shanah period through the site aumantax.com. The organization claims that this payment method for the tourist fee is coordinated with Uman City Council. After entering personal details and paying, a person receives an electronic code that must be presented during checks at city entry. If a pilgrim did not prepay the fee through the site, on the spot they are asked to pay $45.

“Glavcom” sent a request to Komunalnyk, the municipal enterprise that is the tax agent for the tourist fee in Uman. Journalists asked whether the enterprise has official agreements with the Union of Bratslav Hasidim or the aumantax.com site, where the funds for the tourist fee are received and how they are credited to the city budget. The editorial office also asked for an explanation of how the fee amount was calculated for pilgrims who now pay fixed $27 for the entire stay in the city, and whether the enterprise considers the electronic confirmation with a code after payment on the foreign site aumantax.com to be an official document confirming payment of the tourist fee.

We note immediately that the municipal enterprise did not provide any concrete answers to the questions asked.

Because of this, journalists phoned Komunalnyk’s director Stanislav Nazarov directly. He also refused to comment by phone and advised to resubmit the inquiry in writing, despite the fact that the previous request had been effectively ignored.

The Union of Bratslav Hasidim states on its resources that it has an agreement with Uman authorities regarding payment of the tourist fee

screenshot: aumantax.com

During online registration the site asks to provide the pilgrim’s personal data

screenshot: aumantax.com

At the same time the aumantax.com site states that the proposed payment mechanism will avoid queues and speed pilgrims’ entry into the city. It appears the online collection resource operates only during pilgrimage. As of mid-September it was already inactive, and users with questions were redirected to the Bratslav Hasidim’s email.

As of 15 September the aumantax.com site is inactive

screenshot: aumantax.com

“Glavcom” sought explanations from Uman city authorities. However, officials’ explanations were also very contradictory.

Uman mayor Iryna Pletniova, who is now fighting for her position in the courts, when asked by “Glavcom” where the fixed sum proposal $27 came from and whether the city changed the tourist fee rate, quoted legal norms in response: “The tourist fee rate is set as a percentage in accordance with the minimum wage, as is clearly provided by law. The minimum wage changes and the tourist fee amount is automatically recalculated. This is a mathematical formula provided by legislation, and we cannot arbitrarily influence that process.”

Uman’s first deputy mayor Oleg Hanich also began at a distance in a comment to “Glavcom.” He first explained that the official tourist fee depends on the type of accommodation and the length of stay in the city. But he ultimately admitted that $27 did not arise out of nowhere: “Since the minimum pilgrimage period is three days, we asked the system developers to set a minimum payment for three to four days.” But regarding statements about an agreement between Uman City Council and Bratslav Hasidim, the deputy mayor said literally: “A lot of things can be written on a fence.”

However, on the Bratslav Hasidim’s YouTube channel one can still find a video from 2024 years ago in which the same Oleg Hanich effectively advertises the Hasidim’s online resource and explains that pilgrims can pay the tourist fee two weeks before arriving in the city. In the two-year-old video, the deputy mayor claimed that in that case the fee would be reduced to $27.

On the Bratslav Hasidim’s YouTube channel one can still find a video from 2024 years ago in which Oleg Hanich effectively advertises the Hasidim’s online resource

The deputy mayor could no longer comment on that video with the “a lot can be written on a fence” line. He told “Glavcom” that the city did set a minimum period and effectively determined that same amount $27 as the minimum payment so pilgrims would not cheat on their length of stay: “When a pilgrim pays the fee, he enters and fills in the duration of stay. And he can fill it in as if he will be in Uman for one day. But we understand that this is not so. Therefore we asked the programmers who made the site to make payment for a minimum of three days of pilgrimage. I don’t know what other site there is, we have the official Uman city site. Since there are almost no official hotels within the pilgrimage area, we started collecting at least something. When I took office, I took this issue under control, and we raised the tourist fee already to 25 million UAH.”

Commenting on a video where he urged Hasidim to pay a fee of $27, Oleg Hanich explained that pilgrims had to be forced to pay at least something: “All the rabbis resisted, so as not to pay. Therefore we made them understand: you will not enter the city until you pay. Well, thank God, they began to pay. All official payments come through Komunalnyk as the tax agent. The money goes only there and is transferred to the city budget within a month. This practice has been in place for more than one year.”

According to Hanich, the city hall even appealed to rabbis and representatives of Hasidic organizations asking them to remind pilgrims of the Torah’s requirement to obey the laws of the state they visit.

“As for warnings that some Hasidic organizations collect the tourist fee through their own unofficial channels, I understand who is pouring oil on the fire and always say this: if you can collect more, then come and do it,” the deputy mayor said.

At the same time Hanich still did not answer directly whether the city council has any agreements with aumantax.com and whether funds paid through it are received by the Uman community budget.

Is the tourist fee in Uman collected by a Hasidic organization?

People’s deputy Anton Yatsenko, elected to parliament from the district centered in Uman, told “Glavcom” he insists that in 2025 funds were received not into Komunalnyk’s account but into the account of Echod Breslev – a structure associated with Bratslav Hasidim in Uman. According to him, payments from pilgrims who paid the tourist fee via the mentioned site aumantax.com were accepted through that structure. The MP, who is now actively exposing Uman’s leadership, said that last year about 12 thousand pilgrims paid the tourist fee at the fixed rate $27 via that site.

Yatsenko also recalled that in 2025 there were points near the checkpoints through which pilgrims passed where the tourist fee could be paid in cash. According to him, those on duty at the block posts were instructed to let people through on receipts from aumantax.com. At the same time the money, the deputy claims, was not paid to the city’s official tax agent. This, he says, explains the reluctance of city officials to comment on the situation.

The online platform offers to pay the tourist fee at the price of $27

photo: glavcom.ua

Yatsenko notes that this practice of paying the tourist fee in Uman has already attracted the interest of NABU detectives: on 17 October 2025 the anti-corruption agencies opened a pre-trial investigation in a criminal proceeding under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding possible abuses by officials of Uman City Council and Komunalnyk. However, there is currently no information about any indictments in this investigation.

The Hasidim site states there is an agreement between Uman City Council and the Hasidic organization on payment of the tourist fee

screenshot: aumantax.com

For his part, Uman’s deputy mayor Oleg Hanich acknowledged that the city has a problem controlling the duration of pilgrims’ stays: “It is extremely difficult to control whether a pilgrim stayed longer than the period for which he paid the tourist fee. Of course, none of the foreigners want to overpay, but keeping every person under control is almost impossible.” He said it’s better that they pay less but at least pay something.

Where the money for the tourist fee may be going

To give aumantax.com an official appearance, the site even displays the coat of arms of Uman City Council. But a source familiar with Bratslav Hasidic pilgrimage to Uman and the legal support for such tourists, speaking on condition of anonymity, explains: it’s only a facade. Funds received through the site likely go abroad, and the city budget gets not a single kopeck from them.

“Last year it was exactly the same story: the same resource, the same information and even the same amount – $27. So it looks like there is a certain Hasidic site through which the tourist fee is paid, the money goes to an Israeli company outside Ukraine, and the Uman city budget receives nothing from transfers on this site. The pilgrim receives a payment confirmation with a QR code and comes to Uman and passes control. At the checkpoint foreigners scan QR codes with scanners and their own app, confirming that the person supposedly paid the tourist fee. But this person paid the fee not according to the law, but transferred $27 to who knows where. At the same time they are calmly allowed into the area,” the source told the publication.

During Rosh ha-Shanah in Uman Israeli police jointly patrol the Bratslav Hasidim residential area together with Ukrainian law enforcement

photo: Cherkasy Region Police

The source reminds that under Ukrainian law part of the tourist fee must be paid through hotels. At the same time, according to him, only a few hotels officially operate in Uman, so that collection model effectively does not work.

For legal payment last year the State Tourism Development Agency created a special payment system for pilgrims that allows paying the tourist fee in advance, before arriving in the city. The Agency’s site emphasizes separately: settlements via third-party sites do not replace the tourist fee calculated according to the established rate.

This warning is not accidental: schemes of shadow collection of funds from pilgrims in Uman have thrived for years. At the end of 2024 the Cherkasy police investigated a criminal proceeding regarding alleged embezzlement of funds that should have gone to the local budget from the tourist fee paid by foreign tourists who came to Uman to celebrate Rosh ha-Shanah in September 2023. There is currently no information on how that investigation concluded.

At the same time the judicial register contains other mentions of abuses by Uman officials during Rosh ha-Shanah. In particular, in September 2025 the court closed a criminal proceeding against the former director of Uman municipal enterprise Komunalnyk, who was accused of receiving an illicit benefit. According to the case materials, as early as September 2017 the official received an illicit benefit from an entrepreneur for granting permission and a place for trade in the area of mass presence of Hasidic pilgrims. At that time it concerned… $200.

Court closed the criminal proceeding against the former head of Komunalnyk. Screenshot: court decisions register

Despite this, the trial dragged on for eight years and in the end the court released the accused from criminal liability due to expiration of the five-year statute of limitations, and the proceeding was closed. The former official himself never admitted guilt in committing the crime.