Klitschko spoke of political pressure and thousands of criminal cases against officials in the capital

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko made strong statements regarding systematic pressure on local self-government in Ukraine and revealed details of internal political agreements and personnel decisions made in recent years. According to him, the central government is attempting to establish a rigid hierarchy to control the regions.

This is reported by Khreshchatyk 36.

Law enforcement agencies have currently opened approximately 1,600 criminal cases involving officials from the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA), members of the Kyiv City Council, and employees of the capital’s municipal utilities. The mayor drew attention to the critically low success rate of these investigations, which, in his view, indicates that they were politically motivated. Of the 1,600 cases opened, only 8 have reached trial, and only 2 actual court verdicts have been handed down so far. Klitschko also added that this practice of removing unwelcome community leaders is widespread across the country—to date, over 300 mayors of Ukrainian cities have been removed from office through various legal and procedural mechanisms.

In the context of discussing corruption risks, the mayor of the capital recalled his behind-the-scenes negotiations with the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, which took place between 2019 and 2020. At that time, the parties acknowledged that the Department of Urban Development of the Kyiv City State Administration is one of the most corrupt agencies. To defuse political accusations, Klitschko proposed to Yermak that he appoint his trusted representative to head the department. As a result of this compromise, Oleksiy Kuleba was appointed head of the Department of Urban Development.

Separately, Vitali Klitschko harshly criticized the current head of the Kyiv City Military Administration (KCMA), Timur Tkachenko, who had previously also worked in the aforementioned Department of Urban Development. The mayor of Kyiv publicly stated that the head of the KMVA had never even served in the military. Klitschko emphasized that at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Tkachenko strangely found himself in Uzhhorod and returned to the capital only after Russian occupation forces had been completely pushed back from the borders of the Kyiv region.