Government Question Hour: How MP Hryvko Forced Minister Bezgin to Reveal the Truth About Housing Vouchers and Exposed a Chain of Disinformation

Public scrutiny and published investigations into the blockade of housing funds for war veterans (Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1176) have forced government officials to speak the truth on the floor of the Verkhovna Rada. Responses provided by the Minister for Communities and Territories Development, Vitaliy Bezgin, to questions posed by MP Serhiy Hryvko have not only established the total absence of promised funding, but also dismantled misleading claims made by MP Maksym Tkachenko and the leadership of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs.

Following investigative reports and widespread public debate addressing bureaucratic negligence within the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and political figures distributing false pledges to displaced combat veterans, the actual state of affairs regarding housing vouchers has finally been uncovered.

Prior to this public spotlight, officials from both the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development took virtually no substantive steps to resolve the deadlock. Instead, defenders were repeatedly met with hollow promises of funding starting in September, then October, and beyond. Tellingly, Minister Vitaliy Bezgin published his initial update concerning donor negotiations only after our first exposé entered the public domain.

Moment of Truth in Parliament: Inquiries by MP Hryvko

On Friday, October 30, 2026, during the Government Question Hour in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, People's Deputy Serhiy Hryvko directly questioned Minister Vitaliy Bezgin regarding the true status of housing voucher disbursements for combat veteran IDPs.

The Minister’s response established clarity while exposing inaccurate public representations previously made by Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs Ruslan Prykhodko and MP Maksym Tkachenko:

1. No Funds Were Available in October: International negotiations for fresh funding have only just started; a framework agreement for €80 million (approximately 4 billion UAH) with the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) is scheduled for signing in late November, with the first tranche expected no earlier than late December 2026.
2. The Fiction of the "50/50 Split": Minister Bezgin confirmed that international funds previously cited by Tkachenko cannot be reallocated to Resolution No. 1176 vouchers. Those funds were strictly earmarked for damaged property certificates under the "YeVidnovlennia" mechanism. This confirmation exposed Tkachenko’s public remarks as deliberate misinformation or gross incompetence regarding distinct state programs.
3. Conspicuous Silence: MP Maksym Tkachenko had addressed Minister Bezgin on the parliamentary floor immediately before MP Hryvko. Yet Tkachenko failed to raise a single question regarding the absent voucher funds that he had publicly promised nationwide just weeks prior.

BACKGROUND DOSSIER: Who Is Ruslan Prykhodko and Why His Statements Collapsed Under Scrutiny

Title: Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine.

Portfolio: Coordination of social protection frameworks for veterans, guarantee enforcement, and state welfare policies.

Documented Role in Communications Breakdown:

• Misleading Deadlines: As highlighted by MP Serhiy Hryvko, Ruslan Prykhodko repeatedly assured veteran organizations throughout 2026 that funding under Resolution No. 1176 was imminent, citing consecutive autumn target dates without factual basis.
• Obscuring the Cash Deficit: With access to Treasury accounts, senior ministry officials were fully aware that the initial 6.6 billion UAH allocation had been depleted by early summer. Rather than petitioning the Cabinet or international donors, the Deputy Minister pacified the public with unsubstantiated assurances.
• Institutional Evading of Duty: While leadership offered empty reassurances, Ministry staff took 26 calendar days merely to forward a formal petition from the Oleksandrivsk City Council to another department with the disclaimer: "not within our scope of authority."

Minister Bezgin’s parliamentary admission that negotiations with international partners have only begun represents a direct refutation of Deputy Minister Prykhodko's credibility.

A Queue of 41,000 and Strict Oversight Deadlines

Official government figures disclosed during the session underscore the scale of the emergency: more than 41,000 applications from combatants and disabled war veterans have been validated in the system.

If the €80 million agreement is formalized in late November, the initial December tranche of €40 million (2 billion UAH) will cover only around 1,000 households. Tens of thousands of displaced veterans remain deferred into 2027 budgets.

Deadlines have now been placed on the official record. Civil society and displaced communities will maintain strict oversight over every phase of implementation.

To be continued…