Occupied part of Kherson oblast is deep budgetary crisis. It is heavily subsidized by Moscow. Local teachers, doctors and employees of municipal enterprises suffer from delayed payments of salaries and try to get them by complaining to Russian prosecutors and “senators”.
But local senior collaborators feel well. Each year Russian occupants spend millions of Rubles for the maintenance of so-called “heads of administrations” – local collaborators, appointed and fully controlled by occupants. These expenses are hidden under title “for functioning of public officials”. In practice, these “officials” enjoy huge salaries, lucrative bonuses and extra payments which have nothing to do with effective management or real needs of the region.
The Center for Journalist Investigations analyzed budgetary documents of occupation administrations and compared income of Russian “heads”-collaborators with salaries of Ukrainian legitimate heads of local military administrations.
How much does betrayal cost?
According to Russian budgetary documents, each “head” of 14 so-called “municipal districts” receives from 3 to 5 million Rubles per year as a salary from the Russian Federation. For convenient calculations, we convert these and further sums into Ukrainian currency along the exchange rate of the National Bank of Ukraine (as of February 5, 2026) – 1,8 Russian Rubles per 1 UAH. Thus, average yearly salary of “heads” is around 2-3 million UAH.
Budgets of occupied Ukrainian communities do not have articles called “salary”. Almost all of them are called “expenses on functioning of senior public official”. In financial documents of occupied Novotroitska community, we found separate “expenses on salary of senior public official” and they have been equal to expenses on functioning”.
The salary of collaborators has not been fixed because they have allocated themselves huge sums for “diligent work” (several salaries). Besides that, traitors receive significant sums for “improvement of their living conditions”. Some traitors also receive extra payments for their Russian awards. All these surpluses add 20-30% to their “net salary”.
Meeting of heads of Russian occupation administrations on temporary occupied territories of Kherson oblast. October 2025. Photo: Russian occupation social media
The system of receiving these bonuses looks like this: “head of administration” puts the respective issue into the agenda of the session of illegal local “council”. Members of the council support unanimously the allocation of extra money to the “head”. That is to say, amount of money spent by the “district” for the work of local collaborators is limited only by appetite of collaborators.
For example, in autumn 2025, members of “council” in occupied Chaplynka allocated to “head” of local occupation administration Lilia Puliaeva three additional salaries. In one month, she received another three additional salaries from members of the council. As a result, she increased her yearly salary by 50%. Respective decisions were signed by Puliaeva and “head of the council” Volodymyr Dombrovsky. Dombrovsky himself received “material assistance” from the “council” but its amount was two times less than Puliaeva’s payments.
Salary of Puliaeva has not been specified in 2025 budget of Chaplynka “district”. It seems that this year she will be well off by 2,4 million UAH at minimum. If this former accountant will give herself extra bonuses on a scale of the last year, then, she will get almost 4 million UAH of extra payments this year.
Some “municipal districts” do not disclose salaries of their “heads” at all. They hide them behind general figures or do not disclose their budgets. For example, this is the case of occupied Kakhovka, headed by infamous Pavlo Filipchuk. “The council of deputies” of occupied Velyka Lepetykha has not held its meetings since March 2025. They did not approve yearly budget or “forgot” to publish it online.
Traitors Pavlo Filipchuk and Volodymyr Saldo, April 2024. Photo: social media
Thus, available information about salaries of “heads” of occupied communities of Kherson oblast is not complete. But it is sufficient to compare salaries of Russian occupation “heads” with salaries of legitimate Ukrainian heads of military administrations of the region.
Left or Right Bank of Dnipro? Whose salaries are higher?
As soon as Ukrainian public officials on liberated Right Bank of Dnipro in Kherson oblast receive their monthly salaries, Russian propagandists write “sensational” materials calling Ukrainian officials “parasites” with too high salaries.
Who earns more – Ukrainian professional public officials from liberated Right Bank of Dnipro or masseurs and cleaners from occupied Left Bank appointed by Russian occupants to manage occupied communities? In order to conduct correct comparison, we choose two communities and “municipal districts” – Novotroitsky and Genichesky, almost coinciding with legitimate administrative structure of Ukraine.
In 2025, Yevgenia Kuzmenko, Russian collaborator and “head” of occupation administration of Novotroitsky “district”, received Ruble equivalent of 2 709 744 UAH as her yearly salary. In September 2025, local “council of deputies” allocated her extra bonuses of 677 436 UAH for “diligent performance of duties”. Thus, her yearly income from the local budget reached 3 387 180 UAH. In 2026, her salary can be even higher as Russian occupants increased her salary.
Kuzmenko is the daughter of local priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Moscow Patriarchate. Before Russian full scale invasion, she worked as a masseur in Kherson and could not dream about such a salary.
Yevhenia Kuzmenko, head of Russian occupation administration of Novotroitske community, summer 2025. Photo: Russian occupation mass media
Sergii Peretyatko, legitimate Ukrainian head of Novotroitska community, earns around 65 thousand UAH per month or 780 thousand UAH per year. It is 4,3 times less than Russian occupants pay to Kuzmenko.
There is similar situation in Genichesk community. Last year Russian occupation “head” Julia Semyakina received equivalent of 2 132 055 UAH plus three extra salaries as bonuses. Thus, her overall salary reached 2 665 068 UAH. In 2026, Russian occupants increased her “net salary” to 3,1 million UAH per year.
Last year, legitimate Ukrainian head of Genichesk Military Administration in exile Yevgenii Radionov received 1 104 289 UAH as his yearly salary. It is obviously far less than Semyakina’s salary.
But all these figures seem to be modest in comparison with the salary of Vladyslav Nikitenko, the head of Russian occupation administration of Nyzhni Sirogozy. According to disclosed documents, in 2025, Ruble equivalent of 5 015 666 UAH was planned as his salary. Consequent amendments increased it by 400 thousand UAH. Then, “deputies of local council” paid him two extra salaries for “good work”. In 2025, Nikitenko received Russian award “For services to Kherson region” and another extra bonus. To sum up, his overall salary reached 7 096 449 UAH in 2025!
Sergii Nikitenko, head of Russian occupation administration of Nyzhni Sirogozy. Photo: social media
For comparison, last year the highest salary among Ukrainian legitimate heads of administrations on both banks of Dnipro, liberated and occupied, was paid to Yaroslav Shanko, the Head of Kherson City Military Administration. It reached only 1 293 343 UAH. It is nothing in comparison with the level of Russian occupation “head” Vladyslav Nikitenko!
We also compared salaries of heads of oblast administrations – Ukrainian legitimate and Russian occupation.
Let us start with Ukrainian legitimate Head of Kherson Oblast Administration Oleksandr Prokudin. According to Суспільне.Херсон, his 2025 yearly salary reached 2 mln 75 thousand UAH. At the beginning of 2025, his monthly salary has been 161 491 UAH and at the end of the year – 177 790 UAH. The salary included basic or net salary, bonus payment for military position, bonus for his length of service within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and extra payment for the access to the state secret information.
It seems to be quite decent remuneration.
However, in 2025, Volodymyr Saldo, so-called Russian governor of occupied part of Kherson region, received Ruble equivalent of 18,8 million UAH from Russian occupants. It is nine times higher than Prokudin’s salary!
But in 2026, Russian occupants significantly cut their expenses on Saldo’s well being to the equivalent of 5 million UAH… Still, it is two times higher than the salary of the legitimate Head of Kherson Oblast Administration.
What are conclusions?
Huge deficit of budgets of occupied communities in Kherson oblast and their total dependency upon subsidies from Moscow shape expected results: significant number of the personnel of the public institutions in occupied communities suffers from delayed payments of wages by the end of each year. However, there are exceptions to this rule. Senior public officials-collaborators always receive large salaries, increased by extra bonuses and payments for “specific achievements”.
Each autumn teachers, doctors, construction workers, electricians and employees of cultural institutions in occupied communities start complaining about delayed salaries. Some people are forced by their bosses to take the leave without payments. Some employees keep working 4-5 months without receiving salaries. Others submit complaints to occupation prosecutors.
However, local senior collaborators keep allocating themselves huge extra bonuses and expand their businesses based on stolen Ukrainian assets or Russian budgetary funds.
Publication in Russian media about delayed payment of wages in temporary occupied Kherson oblast, November2025
“People are tired. On the eve of each winter they need resources to buy coal, to pay for municipal services or close their debts. But they are given only empty promises: there is not money, wait, be strong. Employees say that they are not able to make savings because their salaries are low. They emphasize that their salaries were stipulated in the budget at the beginning of year when budgets were approved. And salaries were regularly paid during the first half of the year, sometimes, in advance. But regular salaries suddenly “disappear” in the second half”, as complained employees of melioration system to Russian journalists in autumn 2025.
How “disappear” Russian money for public employees in occupied communities? The answer is simple: Russian federal funds are re-allocated for the benefit of senior collaborators. The greed of appointees of Russian occupation authorities (former masseurs and cleaners, politicians-businessmen etc) is enormous.
The deficit of the budget of occupied part of Kherson oblast reached an equivalent of 1,2 billion UAH. But Russian occupation authorities and their collaborators plan to spend 1,7 billion UAH for the maintenance of “heads”, “deputies of local councils”, members of electoral commissions and illegal courts.
The situation will worsen as Moscow plans to cut the budget of occupied region by 22% in 2027. But senior collaborators are likely to receive lucrative remuneration for their betrayal.
Civil society organization “Information Press Center” expresses its gratitude for the financial support provided by the European Union through the project “Support for Frontline Media and Investigative Journalism,” implemented by Internews International. Information agency “The Center for Journalist Investigations” maintains full editorial independence, and the information provided does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or Internews International.
