November 2025 was a month of contrasts and bureaucratic paradoxes for the Kherson region. While communities try to survive under a “human safari” of enemy drones and farmers miraculously harvest crops, the bureaucratic apparatus lives its parallel life: buying expensive chairs and allocating millions to dubious contracts. This month showed that the chasm between reality in offices and on the streets is growing deeper.
1. Introduction
Main trends of the month: The region continues to live in a front-line mode: alongside the strengthening of anti-drone defenses and the demolition of destroyed buildings, decisions are being made to allocate hundreds of millions of hryvnias for critical infrastructure, maintenance of the apparatus and reconstruction. Against this backdrop, society is paying closer attention to officials’ wealth, institutional efficiency and who and how reports to citizens.
Word of the month: “Nets”. Anti-drone nets became the symbol of November – both as real protection for roads and as a metaphor for opaque “nets” of influence and the distribution of budget funds among those close to power.
Phrase of the month: “We do not have a spare Ukraine” (Volodymyr Mykolaienko – Kremlin captive, Mayor of Kherson, 2014-2020).
Figure of the month: UAH 7,797 – the cost of an office chair purchased by the newly appointed head of the loss-making municipal enterprise “Khersonteploenergo”, Anton Maksymovych. A symbolic gesture that eloquently indicates priorities.
2. Socio-political situation
The biggest disappointment for voters was the total secrecy of regional representatives. The Chesno movement recorded that no deputy of the Kherson Regional Council provided a written report on their work for 2024. This indicates a deep crisis of representative power in the region, where the war has become a convenient excuse for ignoring accountability.
Personnel changes.
- The new-old acting head of the regional TCC and SP became Oleksandr Samotey, who already held this position in 2021.
- The director of the Department of Economy and Investments of the Kherson City Council became Denys Pohrebny – the son of the so-called political technologist and former city council secretary Yuriy Pohrebny. This fuels discussions about political influence and conflicts of interest in the city’s personnel policy.
- State Enterprise “Kherson Regional Road Service” was headed by Denys Bohatko, who previously engaged in entrepreneurial activities in wholesale fuel trade and legal services.
- The Department for Territorial Development of the Regional Military Administration was temporarily headed by Tetiana Tkachenko, who previously worked as a chief specialist. The department continues a personnel carousel after the dismissal of former leaders Svitlana Vasina and Volodymyr Ilchenko.
- The Department for Civil Protection and Defense Work of the RMA was headed by Yevhen Pisotsky, who came from the prosecutor’s office and previously served as the acting head of the department.
- Unexpectedly the Department of Physical Culture, Youth and Sports of the RMA was headed by Serhiy Yavorsky, who until recently was the director of one of the youth sports schools. In fact, the previous head of the department, a prisoner of Russian torture Anatoliy Stotsky, was “consumed” by the supervising deputy governor Volodymyr Kliutsevskyi, who is not overburdened with state affairs and therefore has time for behind-the-scenes intrigues.
- The High Council of Justice adopted a submission on the transfer of Judge Nataliya Pavlenko of the Economic Court of Kherson Region for promotion to the Southwestern Appellate Economic Court.
Loud stories about asset declarations
Journalists reported about millions in cash, foreign trips and premium cars of the family of the first deputy head of the regional council Yuriy Sobolevskyi, after which he was forced to publicly respond and give explanations about the origin of the property. The sources of the “Servant of the People”’s income attracted the attention of the NACP.
Alongside this, regional council deputy and businessman Volodymyr Khvostovis trying to avoid administrative responsibility for corruption by delaying court proceedings. Although, unlike Sobolevskyi, the origin of his assets is not in doubt.
3. Economy and finance
The economic situation in the region remains difficult, but not hopeless. Business adapts: since the beginning of the year almost two thousand new business entities have been registered, and entrepreneurs are 10 times more likely to use software cash registers, emerging from the shadow economy.
At the same time, the state extended a helping hand to business, exempting some Kherson entrepreneurs from paying the single tax and military contributions.
Over 10 months of 2025, Kherson region taxpayers paid UAH 5.26 billion of the single social contribution and more than UAH 29 million of rent payments, and since the beginning of the year about UAH 1.8 billion of taxes have been transferred to local budgets – a resource that is critically important for providing basic services.
Budget paradox. The budget execution report for 9 months of 2025 showed an interesting picture: with a general fund surplus of over UAH 344 million, the special fund has a deficit of UAH 160 million. The largest expenditures go to education (UAH 202 million) and civil protection (UAH 141.5 million). At the same time, huge reserve fund amounts (over UAH 152 million) were, as of the reporting period, lying “dead weight”.
Salaries and debts. The average salary in the region reached UAH 22,392. Highest earners are financiers (UAH 47.6k) and civil servants (UAH 46.8k), and the lowest – IT specialists (UAH 11.2k) and builders (UAH 15.2k), which likely indicates use of “envelope” payments in these sectors. Wage arrears amount to almost UAH 2.5 million, most of which fall on Kakhovka and Kherson districts. These are accumulated debts from previous years.
Agricultural sector. Despite mining and shelling, Kherson farmers harvested over 264 thousand tonnes of grain, pulses and industrial crops, as well as vegetables, potatoes, watermelons and melons. At the same time, the price of land remains one of the lowest in Ukraine – UAH 36,215 per hectare.
An important signal for recovery was the Cabinet’s resolution on allocating almost UAH 50 million in subsidies to the regional budget and additional funds to communities (Tyahynska, Vysokopilska, Novorayska) for infrastructure modernization and winter preparations. The Japanese government also provided a grant to restore water supply in Kherson.
Volumes of the region’s foreign trade are decreasing. Exports of goods fell by 15%, and imports – by almost a third.
4. Social and humanitarian spheres
The humanitarian situation is characterized by a negative demographic potential. A vivid example is the Bilozerka community, which suffered catastrophic population decline and destruction of nearly half of households.
Education. Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University was designated as the only university in the region that in 2026 will be able to recognize learning outcomes obtained in temporarily occupied territories. This is an important step for reintegrating youth from the TOT.
Healthcare. In the Beryslav community a new primary health care center opened, and donor activity made it possible to perform 4.5k blood donations since the beginning of the year.
Sports. Authorities try to maintain an image: Kherson athletes who earned the right to represent Ukraine at the XXV Summer Deaflympics 2025 in Tokyo, Japan, will receive one-time scholarships.
5. Society and culture
The cultural front defends itself no less fiercely than the military. Russians damaged the Northern gate of the Kherson fortress. In Kyiv, an exhibition opened about Kherson artist Mykhailo Andriienko-Nechytailo.
Memory. The Kherson Regional Museum of Local Lore prepared two new volumes of the “Chronology of Courage” series. “Places of Memory” appeared in the city, and in the Tyahynska community a cross was installed in honor of the victims of war crimes.
The world does not forget Kherson: Angelina Jolie visited the city, journalist Zarina Zabriski is preparing a global campaign “Save Kherson / Stop Human Safari”, and in Kyiv for the anniversary of the region’s liberation they planted an alley of trees and are preparing
Religion. Although nearly 300 parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate still operate in the Kherson region, and the UOC-MP website continues to call collaborator Yuriy Zvieriev its “metropolitan”, ignoring reality, religious life is being revived in liberated communities. In the village of Posad-Pokrovske near Kherson a religious community of Evangelical Christian Baptists “Church of the village Posad-Pokrovske” was founded, and in Kherson a religious community of Evangelical Christians “New Life”/
Media. Kherson journalists created a volunteer radio project to fight Russian fakes/
6. Security
The security situation remains the number one “pain point”. The President promised a new program to protect the sky over Kherson, but so far protection falls on the shoulders of volunteers. Prokudin said that another UAH 460 million is needed to equip roads with anti-drone nets.
Corruption on blood? UAH 191.5 million was allocated to protect critical infrastructure, but contracts were received by companies with dubious reputations. This raises concerns, since lives are at stake. Moreover, journalists discovered a scheme involving persons close to officials in multimillion deals.
The Regional Defense Council strengthened mobilization measures and allowed purchasing materials for protecting facilities (concrete, nets) without tenders. This is a necessary step to speed up processes, but it creates huge corruption risks.
7. Ecology
The ecological situation is approaching a point of no return. Due to the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP, the cutting down of shelterbelts and hostilities, the region is losing water and is turning into a semi-desert. Damages to aquatic ecosystems are estimated at UAH 1.3 billion.
At the same time, there are local successes: the agricultural enterprise “Pershe Travnia” was the first in Ukraine to receive compensation for humanitarian demining of land.
“Trend of the month”
Two worlds of Kherson region. November clearly outlined the chasm between the world of officials and the world of ordinary people. In the first world they buy chairs, avoid reports, give contracts to “their” people and paint pretty surplus numbers in Excel spreadsheets. In the second – people weave nets themselves, harvest under shelling, lose homes and try to survive in uncertainty. These worlds intersect only in reports about “heroic resilience” that authorities often ascribe to themselves.
Conclusions
November 2025 showed that the Kherson region has adapted to war as a way of life. The economy functions in a mode of “manual control” and targeted subsidies. Security entirely depends on external help (state, volunteers, international partners) and the ingenuity of locals (anti-drone nets).
The main internal threat becomes incompetence and corruption in the management chain. Lack of transparency in the use of large funds undermines trust in institutions precisely when unity is vital.
Forecast
In December one should expect increased pressure on energy infrastructure, which will require effective security solutions. If the situation worsens, a continued outflow of population from the region will be observed.
Scandals over tenders for building protective structures will likely continue into criminal proceedings, if law enforcement pays attention to journalists’ investigations.
Growing concern will be caused by the international game around ending the war and determining the demarcation territory.