Legal status and local government of Kyiv

The City of Kyiv has a unique legal status compared to the other administrative subdivisions of Ukraine. The most significant difference is that the city is functionally independent of the oblast (province) in which it is located. That is, Kyiv is subordinated directly to the national-level branches of the Government of Ukraine, skipping the provincial level authorities of Kyiv Oblast, but hosting the administrative and infrastructure bodies for the latter.

The unique standing of the city's institutions of self-governance reflects the role of Kyiv as the capital of Ukraine and is also based on the city's historical administrative status within the Soviet Union where Kyiv (spelt "Kiev" in Russian at the time) held the position of a City of republican subordination.

The head of the local government (the Mayor of Kyiv) is elected, rather than appointed, and the municipal government has greater latitude in local affairs that elsewhere in Ukraine. The President of Ukraine appoints the Head of Kyiv City Administration.

Currently, the legal status and the local government of Kyiv is regulated by the special provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine as well as a combination of Ukrainian laws, namely the Law on the capital of Ukraine - Hero City Kyiv,^[1][2][3] the Law on the local state administration^[4] and the Law on local self-governance in Ukraine.^[5]

Its special administrative status is recognized in the Ukrainian Constitution in Chapter IX: Territorial Structure of Ukraine and is governed in accordance with laws passed by Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.^[6]

The scope and structure of the Kyiv local government and the status of the current Kyiv City Council is the subject of an ongoing bitter legal and political crisis. The oppositional parties that dominate the city after the recent elections consider the City Council term of authority expired and effectively block attempts at its convening through mass protest.^[7]