More than 150 deputies of local councils went on business trips abroad in 2025. About UAH 2.4 million was allocated from local budgets for these trips, while some of the elected officials traveled at their own expense or at the expense of the host party. Such data was published by the HONEST Movement after analyzing the responses of city councils to information requests and open sources.
Who has the right to leave?
According to the Cabinet of Ministers' resolutions, local council members can travel abroad on the basis of an order on a business trip. In 2025, the government allowed female city council members to cross the border, with the exception of those who hold paid positions in local government bodies.
The tightening of the rules took place against the backdrop of scandals with abuses. The case of MP Mykola Tyshchenko , who was in Thailand in early 2023, became resonant. At that time, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, stated that he did not sign the order on his business trip.
Similar stories also concerned Vitaliy Bort, Artem Dmytruk, and Oleksandr Kunytskyi, who, after going abroad on a business trip, did not return to Ukraine on time.
How much do city councils spend?
Approaches to the number of trips and funding vary depending on the city. The leader in the number of deputies sent on trips was the Lviv City Council — 36 people. Over 1.4 million UAH was allocated from the budget for these trips.
In Sumy City Council, 8 deputies traveled abroad, but the expenses amounted to over 405 thousand UAH — one of the highest average amounts per elected representative. Some of the deputies traveled at their own expense or at the expense of the host party.
The Kyiv City Council spent UAH 164,000 on business trips, with the same number of delegates as in Sumy. The fewest deputies traveled from the Poltava, Zaporizhia, Cherkasy, and Zhytomyr city councils.
In a number of cities, including Kropyvnytskyi, Rivne, and Kherson, no funds were allocated from the budget for deputies' business trips. In Dnipro and Ternopil, expenses were compensated only for those deputies who are in an employment relationship with the council.
Travel and transparency issues
Special attention was drawn to Roman Kravchuk, a deputy of the Lutsk City Council, who visited the United States three times during the year. At the same time, his name is not mentioned in the city council's response to a request for foreign business trips for 2025. The deputy himself published photos from meetings, including with American politicians.
When business trips become the subject of investigations
Despite the fact that most trips have a humanitarian or diplomatic purpose, law enforcement officers have repeatedly recorded cases of fictitious business trips.
Thus, Dnipro City Council deputy Ruslan Vyshnevetsky was reported under suspicion for using forged documents to travel abroad. According to the investigation, instead of official meetings in Hungary, he and his family went on vacation to Greece.
The head of the Kushugum community, Volodymyr Sosunovsky, according to law enforcement officials, organized a scheme for deputies to travel abroad based on fake invitation letters.
In Kyiv, the head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Dmytro Zagumenny, is suspected of forging invitations for official business trips to the EU, during which he was on vacation in Spain and Italy. The court has chosen a preventive measure for him in the form of house arrest.
Also, Deputy Chairman of the Poltava Regional Council, Oleh Belonozhko, is suspected of using a business trip to Poland for a personal trip to Portugal.
Balance between benefit and accountability
Foreign missions can be an effective tool for building partnerships, attracting humanitarian aid, and developing international cooperation. However, the lack of transparent reporting on the purpose of the trips, sources of funding, and outcomes creates risks of abuse.
Experts emphasize that openness and publicity of information about business trips is a key condition for citizens' trust in local government bodies.
