On 19 May 2026, the Centre for Public Investigations reported that the Odesa Regional Military Administration had refused to provide journalists with information about the salary of its head, Oleh Kiper, according to the Institute of Mass Information.
The journalists had requested information about the salaries of the administration’s leadership, including Kiper and his deputies. In response, the administration refused to disclose part of the requested information, claiming that publishing data about Kiper’s remuneration during martial law could threaten national security and “undermine the authority” of the state body.
The Centre for Public Investigations editor Olesia Lantsman told IMI that Kiper’s declaration should be public because he manages significant public resources during wartime, including humanitarian aid, public procurement and reconstruction processes. She said the public interest was clear, as residents of Odesa region had the right to know whether Kiper’s assets corresponded to his official income.
Lantsman also noted that only four regional governors’ declarations were unavailable in the public register of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention: those of Odesa, Kharkiv, Kherson and Chernivtsi regions. By contrast, heads of other frontline regions, including Sumy, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv, had submitted open declarations.
The Centre for Public Investigations said Ukraine’s law on access to public information provides for openness of information about salaries of officials paid from the state budget. The organisation’s lawyers plan to appeal the Odesa Regional Military Administration’s refusal through the procedure established by law.