Kim, Sienkevych and Terekhov held a forum of frontline cities in Mykolaiv: «No politics here»

On 24 October, Vitaliy Kim, Ihor Terekhov and Oleksandr Senkevych held a workshop for the Association of Frontline Communities and Cities in Mykolaiv. Photo: NikVesti

The Association of Frontline Cities and Communities was created to engage in dialogue with the government and solve regional problems, not to pursue political ambitions.

This is how Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov responded to a question from a correspondent of NikVesti after the association's forum held in Mykolaiv on 24 October.

On the eve of the event, information appeared in telegram channels that a political project was planned to be created on the basis of the association. However, the mayor of Kharkiv denied this, stressing that political processes are not a priority during the war.

When you do something, there are always rumours. I want to say that today there is a war. And it has nothing to do with politics. I believe that there is no need to move towards politics. Today, we need to address the urgent issue of urban life. And the association itself was created to lobby for the interests of frontline cities and communities. This is its main function. In addition, it is a platform, as you have seen, for communication and consolidation. Because the issues we face every day are explosions, air strikes, saving lives of people and children, as you have seen. And the main thing is that today we must do everything we can to save our communities and save people. There is no politics here at all,» said Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

Igor Terekhov told journalists that the Association has no political goals. Photo: NikVesti

The same opinion was expressed by the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych. He noted that there was not a single hint of politics at today's meeting, and therefore such questions are inappropriate.

«At the beginning of the war, the President of Ukraine said that we have no politics, no political parties and so on. We have only one party, called Ukraine, and we are fighting for it today. At this event today, I did not see a single political slogan, political hint or any mention of any political party or political force. That is why I consider any political issues inappropriate within this forum,» added Sienkevych.

As a reminder, the government proposed to reduce the share of personal income tax that goes to local budgets from 64% to 60%. If the changes are adopted in the 2026 budget, communities across the country may lose 15.9 billion hryvnias.

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See also the article NikVesti: «Special economic zone for Mykolaiv: a chance to stop the outflow of business or a risk for the budget»

After a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities on 7 October, the head of Mykolaiv's regional state administration, Vitalii Kim, said that the government would not reduce the share of personal income tax for frontline communities — it would remain at 64%.

As a reminder, in the initial version of the draft budget, the government proposed to reduce the share of personal income tax that remains with the communities to 60%, which would mean a loss of about 16 billion hryvnias for local governments across the country. For Mykolaiv, this means tens of millions of hryvnias that go to energy, city cleaning, and the maintenance of educational and medical institutions, see more about this in the article by NikVesti: «Less Tax, Less City: What the PIT Cut Means for Mykolaiv».

On 22 October, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the first reading draft law №14000 on the State Budget for 2026.