Residents of Vynohradar have been commuting to central Kyiv by minibus and trolleybus for over a decade since discussions about building a metro line to their district began. Initially, the opening was promised for 2023. Now, in 2026, the subway is still under construction, and the main obstacle is not engineering but budgetary: funds are sufficient for only one-seventh of what is needed to complete the work within the contractual timeline.
A 10 Billion Hryvnia Gap
The Kyiv Metro municipal enterprise named the specific amount needed to complete the first stage of the line to Vynohradar: 11.57 billion hryvnia from the city budget. The capital's economic and social development program for 2026 allocates 1.69 billion hryvnia to this project — less than 15% of what is needed. The difference of nearly 10 billion hryvnia is the portion of work that simply will not be completed this year without additional funding.
For residents of the microdistrict, this is not an abstract figure in a table. It is the difference between "the metro will open on schedule" and "the metro will open someday." The contract with the contractor, LLC "Avtostrada Group of Companies," was signed in August 2024 for 30 months — meaning the estimated completion date is early 2027. However, the metro itself acknowledges: the timeline depends not on the builders but on how much funding the city can allocate in 2027–2029, and those amounts have not even been approved yet.
What Has Been Built and What Has Not
Work is not at a standstill. At the future Mostytska station, retaining structures using the "diaphragm wall" method have already been installed and main elements of the anti-draft system and ventilation node have been erected. At Varshavska station (formerly called "Prospekt Pravdy") in the project), a passage with two exits across Prospect of the European Union has been completed, along with reversible sidings, and a 110 kV power line has already been relocated.
However, completing these stations is impossible without moving an entire complex of city utilities — water supply, sewerage, gas pipeline, heating network, and telephone conduits — which are located precisely where the tunnels need to be built. Metro officials directly acknowledge that conditions are difficult:
Work is being carried out in complex hydrogeological conditions, in the presence of an extensive network of engineering utilities laid at various depths, and under conditions of dense urban development.
To this is added martial law. Metro officials separately emphasize that curfews and other restrictions directly affect work pace — builders cannot work around the clock as would be possible in peacetime.
A Story in Which Money Decided Everything
This is already the second attempt to build this line. The first contractor, Kyivmetrobud, received the contract back in November 2018, with work beginning in 2019. Until 2021, the Mostytska and Prospekt Pravdy stations were being built seemingly on schedule — the then-metro chief Viktor Brahinskyi even claimed that the contractor did not request timeline changes.
However, the full-scale invasion, wartime budget constraints, and conflict between the customer and contractor led to Kyivmetrobud and its subcontractors completely halting work in 2023 — following a decision by the appellate commercial court. The city had to revise the project, order new design documentation, and announce a new tender. A new contract with Avtostrada for 13.785 billion hryvnia was concluded only in August 2024.
Thus, the current lack of financing is not a one-time failure but a continuation of a story in which money and wartime circumstances already stopped construction once for over a year.
What This Means for Residents
- Until the city approves funding volumes for 2027–2029, the metro itself cannot name a precise opening date.
- The available 1.69 billion hryvnia for 2026 will allow work to continue on Mostytska and Varshavska stations, but will not accelerate it enough to catch up with the original 30-month schedule.
- Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klychko said at the end of 2025 that main structural work on Mostytska would be completed in 2026 — but this concerns only one of two stations and does not mean passenger service will open.
If in the 2027 budget, Kyiv cannot find a way to close at least half of the missing 10 billion hryvnia, Vynohradar residents will have to mark not the opening of the metro but the third consecutive missed deadline. The question that remains open is: is the city ready to finance the subway at wartime budget pace, or will this project again stretch for years beyond the contract?
