On the 11th attempt, members of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council reinstated the dismissed deputy Hornostai to his position

68th session of the South Ukrainian City Council of the VIII convocation, photo by Pivdennoukrainsk City Council

On their 11th attempt, councillors of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council reinstated Serhii Hornostai, who had previously been dismissed, to the position of deputy mayor.

The decision was made during the city council session on 22 January, according to NikVesti.

Serhii Myskiv, head of the legal department of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council, noted that the draft decision on the reinstatement of Serhii Hornostai had been submitted to the councillors for consideration for the eleventh time.

According to him, the document provides for the introduction of the position of deputy mayor for the activities of the council's executive bodies and the reinstatement of Serhii Hornostai to that position. In addition, it was proposed to include him in the executive committee of the South Ukrainian City Council.

Serhii Myskiv also stressed that, according to the court's decision, deputies are required to submit reports on the results of voting on this issue.

«All deputies on the list are required to submit a report. There are two options for submission: each person can send it by email, or one consolidated report can be prepared. It must be submitted by the 13th following the session,» he explained.

According to the head of the legal department, failure to comply with the court's decision will result in a fine of 20 to 40 minimum subsistence levels, which is 65 to 130 thousand hryvnias. At the same time, if the relevant decision is adopted, there will be no need to submit councillor reports.

«I ask you once again to support the court's decision, and only then to make a decision on the draft structure, which will be submitted to the next session. And there, a decision will be made regarding the deputy, if he is not liked there or if the deputies want to dismiss him,» added Serhii Myskiv.

He also reported that the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court had already imposed a fine of 51,260 hryvnias on the mayor of Pivdennoukrainsk for failing to comply with the court's decision to reinstate the official.

As a result, the draft decision was put to a vote, and the councillors supported the reinstatement of Serhii Hornostai to his position.

It should be recalled that in March 2025, deputies considered a draft decision on the reinstatement of Serhii Hornostai, but did not support it. In addition, by decision of the session, two deputy mayor positions were cut. One of them was held by Serhii Hornostai.

After that, in September 2025, council members again did not agree to reinstate Serhii Hornostai as deputy mayor, who was supposed to return to his job in accordance with the court's decision.

In August 2025, a working group was set up in Pivdennoukrainsk to conduct an official investigation into the officials involved in the improper preparation of documents for the dismissal of Deputy Mayor Serhii Hornostai.

It should be recalled that the former deputy mayor of Pivdennoukrainsk, Serhii Hornostai, achieved reinstatement through the courts and received 280,000 hryvnias in compensation for unlawful dismissal. In addition, the court upheld the claim for moral damages, awarding 5,000 hryvnias.

Back in 2023, deputies of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council elected Denys Kravchenko as secretary at an off-site meeting. Twenty-one deputies were present (OPFL, ES, Syla Liudei, Propozytsiia). According to NikVesti, most of them are affiliated with or directly employed by the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant.

Before the meeting, the deputies tried to expel the correspondent and cameraman of NikVesti. In particular, Anzhela Savastru, elected from the Opposition Platform — For Life party, stated that she had rented the premises in the Energetik cultural centre at her own expense, and that journalists therefore had no right to be there. She then asked them to «chip in» for the rent.

At first, Denys Kravchenko was unable to register for the position. In a decision dated 14 September 2023, the state registrar refused to register him as secretary of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council. The document states that Denys Kravchenko did not submit all the necessary documents and did not leave the originals of the documents and his own application for registration with the registrar. It also states that technical errors were made when filling out the application.