Odesa City Council appoints interim head to replace Trukhanov

Secretary of Odesa City Council Ihor Koval. Photo: Other TV

Ihor Koval, the secretary of the Odesa City Council, has been appointed interim mayor of Odesa. He will replace Hennadii Trukhanov, whose Ukrainian citizenship was revoked due to accusations of holding a Russian passport.

The relevant order was published on the website of the Odesa City Council.

The document states that the decision was made on the basis of part two of Article 42 of the Law of Ukraine «On Local Self-Government in Ukraine». According to it, in case of dismissal of the mayor, early termination of his powers or inability to perform his duties, they will be temporarily performed by the secretary of the city council.

The order appointing Ihor Koval as acting mayor of Odesa. Photo: Odesa City Council website

In a commentary to «Suspilne», Ihor Koval explained that the council acted within the framework of the current legislation.

«We act in accordance with the law on martial law and local self-government. When the current mayor is unable to perform his duties, the law says that the secretary is the one who can perform his duties. In accordance with the presidential decree, Trukhanov is actually suspended from acting as mayor, he said.

The city council website also published an order dated 14 October, according to which Hennadii Trukhanov went on leave at his own expense from 15 to 24 October.

Hennadii Trukhanov's leave order. Photo: Odesa City Council

Earlier, Trukhanov said that he would not leave Odesa and would not agree to «exchange».

Before that, he stressed that «had not changed his mind about going to court» and remained the mayor of Odesa.

Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed that the mayor of Odesa, Gennadiy Trukhanov, had been deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. Copies of his Russian passport are in the possession of the special service.

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However, investigative journalist Khrysto Hroziev suggested that the Russian passport used to deprive Trukhanov of his Ukrainian citizenship could be a fake.

It is worth noting that just the day before, Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said that the President's Office was preparing an initiative to deprive him of Ukrainian citizenship and called these intentions part of «another provocation».

In less than a day, 25,000 people signed a petition demanding that Hennadii Trukhanov be deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. The initiative gained the required number of votes after the natural disaster of 30 September, when ten people died. In response, Gennadiy Trukhanov said that he was ready to undergo any test, including a polygraph, to prove that he did not hold a Russian passport.

Later, Hennadii Trukhanov stated that he was supported by the majority of citizens and had no plans to leave Ukraine.

In addition, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to an electronic petition to establish a military administration in Odesa.

Ukrainian journalists have repeatedly published investigations into Trukhanov's Russian citizenship. This was reported by Slidstvo. Info and hromadske. In 2016, the Security Service of Ukraine began checking the Odesa mayor's ties to Russia, but later the agency said it was unable to find out whether he really had a Russian passport.