While Kherson region continues to operate under war conditions and a chronic budget deficit, Kherson district council deputy Nisar Ahmad from the “Servant of the People” party is trying through the court to recover over half a million hryvnias from a communal institution of the Kherson regional council.
This story began on the eve of the 2020 local elections, when Ahmad was actively engaged in political activity and so‑called “grechkosiystvo” — together with the future collaborator Vitaliy Vybransky was handing out some gifts to schoolchildren of the Korabel neighborhood.
At the elections he ran for the Kherson regional and district councils from the “Servant of the People” party, but initially did not become a deputy. He received a mandate in the Kherson district council later — after one of the deputies resigned.
In March 2021 Ahmad headed the “Ze!Youth” of Kherson region and was part of the close circle of the first deputy head of the Kherson regional council Yuriy Sobolevskyi, who at that time was also the head of the Kherson regional organization of the “Servant of the People” political party.
It was during this period that Sobolevskyi lobbied for the appointment of Nisar Ahmad to the Communal Institution for Capital Construction and Operation of the Kherson Regional Council.
At first Ahmad became acting head, and later officially headed the institution.
According to MOST’s sources, it was Yuriy Sobolevskyi who facilitated Nisar Ahmad’s employment at the communal institution. However, after the start of the full‑scale invasion and the occupation of almost all of the Kherson region by the Russians, its activity was effectively paralyzed.
During the first few months of the occupation of Kherson, Ahmad was part of Yuriy Sobolevskyi’s circle of influence. What exactly he did in the occupied city is not precisely known.
Ahmad himself publicly stated that he was making blue‑and‑yellow ribbons and hanging them around the city.
In July 2022 he founded and headed the charitable fund “Support Kherson”, which began actively providing humanitarian aid and cooperating with international organizations.
Around the same time Ahmad ceased public cooperation with Sobolevskyi.
Note that during the preparation of this material MOST contacted Yuriy Sobolevskyi for comment, but the official refused to comment on any questions related to the activities of his former protégé.
Meanwhile, while running the fund, the deputy actively publicized its activities on social networks. Mostly this was work with international organizations and humanitarian missions, including UN system structures.
It is worth noting that according to the fundamental principles of UN neutrality, international agencies are strictly prohibited from working with politically affiliated persons or sitting deputies. This rule is implemented to prevent the use of humanitarian aid as a tool for campaigning or political PR.
And although there is currently no open political contest in Ukraine, Nisar Ahmad aggressively promotes his fund not only on social networks but also on the streets of Kherson.
Last year representatives of the “Support Kherson” fund even sent out instructions to recipients of humanitarian aid, which detailed how to “properly report” on received humanitarian aid.
The instructions also included an item about promoting the fund and, of course, its leader.
However, in a comment to MOST, Ahmad called the question about political PR on UN aid and mandatory “tags” on social networks false.
“I did not do that,” he assured.
But let’s return to the communal institution that Ahmad allegedly headed.
In August 2024 he decided to leave the position, and later started a court process against his former workplace.
In court he demanded recovery of 570,929 hryvnias in accrued but unpaid wages.
MOST asked the head of the Kherson regional council Oleksandr Samoylenko about the monetary claims to the Communal Institution for Capital Construction and Operation.
In his comment he confirmed that he was aware of the deputy’s systematic attempts to claim funds.
“Nisar Ahmad is not applying with demands for wage recovery from the communal institution for the first time — I know that the court has at least three times refused applications for the issuance of court orders. At the same time he did not contact the Kherson Regional Council or involve us in the court proceedings,” Oleksandr Samoylenko said.
And indeed, in April 2025 the Kherson City Court refused Ahmad in issuing a court order regarding half a million hryvnias.
Court rulings state that the district council deputy did not provide documents on wage accruals for 2024, as well as confirmation of final settlement at the time of dismissal.
The case materials also indicate that Ahmad claimed that at dismissal the accounting department paid him only part of the salary for August and compensation for unused vacation without taking into account the 2023 arrears.
It is worth noting that after February 2022 there is practically no information about Nisar Ahmad’s work at the communal institution.
Almost all his public mentions in media and social networks are related to the fund’s activities and humanitarian projects.
The only two mentions that in any way relate to the communal institution are a publication about his appointment as head in 2021 and a publication about his dismissal in 2024.
It should be noted that at the time of dismissal he had already lived with his family in Kyiv for two years; however, as Nisar Ahmad told MOST in a comment, in 2023 he continued to perform his duties as head of the institution remotely, and he explained the lack of public results of work as a “military secret”.
And to the direct question of how he managed to combine work at the institution with building a large charitable fund in the capital, he answered that he has “a big team”.
So, while the deputy actively led the fund’s team, in May 2025 a judge nevertheless issued a court order to recover over half a million hryvnias from the communal institution in Kherson.
Later the new leadership of the communal institution stated that it learned about the existence of the order only after the change of director. After that the institution applied to the court for its cancellation.
The court agreed that Ahmad’s claims require a separate full consideration with examination of evidence. As a result, the order was canceled.
After that the deputy moved the legal battle to Kyiv and began suing the Kherson Regional Military Administration (HOVA), but here too the court left the claim without movement due to numerous procedural violations and lack of proper evidence.
By the way, according to an official note from the legal department of the HOVA, which the editorial office received, the administration is aware of Nisar Ahmad’s lawsuit. Currently the agency’s lawyers are conducting preparatory work for the next court hearing, which is scheduled to take place in June, and are awaiting a full consideration of the case on the merits.
Interestingly, in a comment to MOST the deputy claimed that the lawsuit allegedly concerns not only him personally, but also many employees of the institution who allegedly were not paid wages. But why in that case the lawsuit is personal and not collective, he could not explain.
In addition, during the conversation he tried to downplay his deputy status, stating that his mandate as a district council deputy currently gives him “no powers or resources”, and the only thing he has is “the desire to help people”.
We also asked about the moral aspect of recovering 570 thousand hryvnias from the budget of a front‑line region in the midst of war, but during the ten‑minute conversation with a MOST journalist Nisar Ahmad was unable to provide a constructive answer to this question, insisting on the purely legal aspect of the case.
So while Nisar Ahmad actively promotes himself and his charitable fund, displaying photos with international donors, the question remains open: do UN partners know that a person with a deputy mandate, hiding behind the status of a volunteer, is attacking the budget of a front‑line region in court, demanding hundreds of thousands of hryvnias for work at a communal institution, while that work raises doubts even among judges?
