"Pulling the Blanket": Why Tax Opacity in the Rear Endangers Frontline Communities
Analytics | 22 September, 2026 at 12:38 | 2,234 | Author: Olena Zelenina
Collage by Olena Zelenina.
"We are all one country. You cannot pull the blanket over to your side and strip away the last remaining taxes from frontline territories that use these funds to help brigades on the front line," stated Vyacheslav Zadorenko, Head of the Derhachi City Military Administration, on the broadcast of the "Voice of the Community" program. These words reflect the pain felt by all border municipalities.
The Derhachi community in the Kharkiv region is a living example of how a frontline area accomplishes the impossible for the front. Since the first days of the full-scale war, the local budget has allocated around 250 million UAH to meet the needs of the Defense Forces.
However, today the community's financial resources are under a double blow: on the one hand, the redirecting of the "military Personal Income Tax (PIT)" to the state budget, and on the other, the shutdown of local businesses or their forced relocation. As a result, while hundreds of millions could previously be allocated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine here, this year the amount is down to just around 30 million UAH.
Vyacheslav Zadorenko openly raises the issue of interregional fairness. He sharply criticizes the practices of certain officials from rear regions who literally compel relocated businesses to change their tax registration, sometimes even resorting to blackmail over employee deferment (reservation) issues.
Taxes move away, while frontline territories are left to face constant shelling, destroyed infrastructure, and the vital need to support soldiers on the front line all on their own.
Read more in the Ukrainian edition....
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