Kyiv’s dual power struggle: military administration faces governance hurdles

That is according to Timur Tkachenko, Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration (KCMA), in an interview with Ukrinform.

He explained that since February 24, all regional state administrations and the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) have been designated as military administrations under martial law. As a result, their heads assumed the roles of military administration chiefs with full authority under the Law of Ukraine On the Legal Regime of Martial Law and the Presidential Decree On the Establishment of Military Administrations.

“However, Kyiv remains the only city where this model has not been fully realized. The city government still views the KCSA as an executive body of the Kyiv City Council — effectively as a local self-government structure. That is a mistaken perception. In practice, it’s the opposite: all the orders that the mayor used to sign as head of the KCSA are now signed by me, as head of the military administration,” Tkachenko said.

According to him, all public funds are still allocated exclusively through the city council, which creates significant challenges — particularly when it comes to urgent security-related expenditures.

“We often face immediate needs, but there is no mechanism to direct resources quickly,” he noted.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, a new structure and staffing plan for the Kyiv City Military Administration was approved in May.