On June 11, 2026, a protest was held in front of Kiev City Hall against the municipal authorities’ plans to quadruple public transportation fares in the Ukrainian capital.
By the Ukrainian Socialist League (LSU)
The protest was organized by the group “Social Movement.” This initiative received active support from the Kyiv branch of the Ukrainian Socialist League, as well as from various grassroots student and labor union groups, the “Narodovladya” party, and several subway workers. About 70 people participated in the protest, which proved to be a significant event for uniting left-wing forces in the social struggle for the rights of Kyiv’s citizens.
According to the plans of the authorities in Kyiv, the fares scheduled for 2026 are as follows: 64.60 hryvnias for the metro; 44.14 hryvnias for ground transportation (trams, trolleybuses, buses, and funiculars).
By way of comparison, the current fare is 8 hryvnias per trip. This means that metro fares are expected to increase eightfold and bus fares by more than 5.5 times compared to current levels.
Shortly before the protest began, authorities in Kyiv rejected a petition demanding that public transportation fares not be raised, at least during the war. Officials made it clear that they care little about the opinions of Kyiv residents. They are not concerned that healthcare professionals, teachers, public service workers, and thousands of ordinary Kyiv workers are being forced to count every hryvnia. They are indifferent to the fact that the daily commute to work is becoming significantly more expensive for many, leading to more voluntary resignations.
The main demand of the protest was the immediate imposition of a moratorium on the review of public transportation fares in Kyiv during the war.
The activists emphasized that the fare increase would hit the capital’s poorest residents the hardest and, citing Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, Valletta, Dunkirk, and Tallinn as examples, demonstrated that even free public transportation is possible without straining the municipal budget. Subway workers also joined the protest, supporting it on the grounds that their wages would not increase but would instead lose value due to the spike in inflation resulting from the fare hike. Oleh Simoroz, an activist with the People’s Land Party and a disabled war veteran, delivered a keynote speech.
Our comrade Tyler Shchur (video) spoke on behalf of the Ukrainian Socialist League, denouncing the attempts by the authorities in Kyiv to shift the blame for the city’s serious financial problems, linked to unprecedented corruption and the embezzlement of municipal funds, as well as the massive destruction caused by Russian missile strikes on civilian neighborhoods, onto workers and young people.
Our comrade called for mass resistance and mobilization within the resistance movement. The protesters’ demands were conveyed to representatives of the Kyiv City Administration. We can confidently state that the protest had a significant impact in terms of public awareness and propaganda. In times of war, mass street protests are banned in Ukraine, but the authorities were forced to refrain from dispersing this protest due to the urgency and relevance of its issues to the residents of Kyiv. We managed to distribute several hundred leaflets from our organization, the Social Movement, and from related initiatives.
The struggle continues! We are delighted to see our bonds of solidarity with the Social Movement and other grassroots social initiatives growing stronger. We are convinced that this protest must be the prelude to significant changes in the structure of the entire leftist movement in Kyiv and Ukraine.
