Lozova is a city in the Kharkiv region, which is located within the Kharkiv–Donetsk–Dnipro triangle.

The Transparent Cities program had studied the transparency of Lozova even before the full-scale invasion, and then, after a one-year break, the city joined the study along with 9 more front-line municipalities of the Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhia regions.

Lozova was granted the status of a non-transparent city in the 2023 study, but the city still has a lot to be proud of. Let's consider the practices of transparency implemented by the local government of Lozova, even despite its relative proximity to the front. Thus, in 2023, Lozova:

- streamed the plenary meetings of the council and published a summary report on the humanitarian aid received;

- demonstrated an impressive result in the field of response to war-time challenges (85% of implementation with the average 56.6% for front-line cities);

- shared full information about the commission's decisions regarding compensation for damaged objects, both statistics and the decisions themselves with an indication of compensation amounts (Lozova is the only city that coped with this task among the 10 newly studied frontline cities);

- used the regional electronic registration system for kindergartens and the national electronic registration system for schools.

In addition, only this frontline municipality in 2023 fully involved the public in the activities of consultation and advisory bodies. Among the 19 members of the IDP Council, 9 are IDPs and 3 are representatives of civil society organizations. The chair of the council is an internally displaced person. Among the 18 members of the commission to consider issues regarding the provision of compensation for damaged objects, a third are members of the public.

In 2024, the city council of Lozova continued to publish not only the minutes of meetings of the city council and standing commissions (which is required by law), but also the minutes of meetings of the executive committee, which ensures comprehensive access of residents to the political process.

Lozova continues to actively help internally displaced persons and regularly publishes important information. In 2024, a comprehensive IDP Support Program for 2024-2026 was approved. It, among other things, provides for the creation of a system of regular assessment of the needs IDPs have and specifies the list of responsible actors and sources of funding for the entire spectrum of assistance to internally displaced persons, from ensuring basic living needs to engaging IDPs in the cultural life of the city.

Unfortunately, this year has seen a certain regression in providing compensation information. As our previous analysis showed, there are two commissions in Lozova: one responsible for providing compensation for damaged objects and the other dealing with destroyed objects. In 2024, the city council ceased to share information about the results of the activities of the first one and did not start to report on the results of the operation of the second one, although the decisions of the executive committee indicate that both commissions are actively functioning. Appendices with these decisions are no more attached to the published decisions of the executive committee, which approve the decisions of the commissions.

Transparency under shelling is possible

The 2023 transaprency study showed that the average level of transparency of frontline cities did not significantly differ from the overall level of transparency of Ukrainian municipalities (39.4% vs. 42.3%, respectively).

These data show that cities are able to operate effectively even under shelling. The example of Lozova proves that it is possible to move towards a high-quality dialogue with the citizens even in difficult conditions.

The level of transparency depends on a number of factors, which, apart from the obvious security risks due to the war, also include the willingness of the local government to open up to the public.

We call on cities to be adaptive, transparent, and accountable. To get along with the community, we, in particular, recommend establishing communication with society and:

•     ensuring citizens' quality access to public information;
•     reporting on decisions of local government, use of funds, current activities;
•     providing opportunities to monitor the local government's activities;
•     engaging residents in decision-making processes.

The Transparent Cities program studied how cities  published the minutes of meetings of city councils and standing commissions. According to the results of the analysis, 11 cities do not publish any protocols, which is actually a violation of the law.