Meeting of Mykolaiv City Council's Commission on Legality disrupted due to conflict between deputies

A meeting of the Mykolaiv City Council Commission on Legality and Deputy Ethics, photo: NikVesti

Today, 19 November, a meeting of the city council's standing committee on human rights, children, family, legality, transparency, anti-corruption policy, local government and ethics was not held due to a conflict between the council members.

This was reported by the correspondent of NikVesti.

Tetiana Dombrovska, a deputy from the «Servant of the People» party, accused her colleagues of making incorrect statements about the new «Sanation» group during the previous session and asked the commission to give an official assessment of these actions.

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«After all, it is our commission that deals with ethics. And I would like to say that during the last session, the day before, there were statements in the public space that crossed the line of human dignity. Namely, when the deputy group «Sanation» cannot be called in public by other deputies «castration» or some other statements. Or one of the deputies allowed himself to say in public that his colleagues, and I quote: «they are not men», «have deprived themselves of the right to vote», or «idiots». It seems to me that such statements humiliate the honour of the entire council, because the people who brought us together should definitely not be looking at some kind of showdown,» said Tetiana Dombrovska.

Dombrovska insisted on a protocol instruction to the council staff and the legal department to assess such statements in accordance with Article 8 of the Law of Ukraine on the Status of Local Council Deputies.

Olena Kiseliova, chair of the commission and head of the «European Solidarity» faction, stressed that the commission does not have a mechanism for issuing protocol instructions and suggested that the deputy formulate a proposal to be included in the agenda.

The discussion escalated into an argument, and Tetiana Dombrovska, claiming that she «was not being heard», left the meeting. After that, Olena Kiseliova announced that the work of the commission had been disrupted.

«Please tell us, we are now seeing live a real, concrete disruption of the commission by the secretary of the commission. Her direct or indirect unwillingness to participate in the working session. And then, if we have a quorum, is it possible to elect another secretary of the commission? If we have a collective opposition from the so-called members of the so-called «sanation» group, which does not exist, then it is also clear that the commission meeting will not take place due to the lack of a quorum,» said Kiseliova.

The meeting was not continued.

It should be noted that according to the agenda, the members were to consider

• the project of the new structure of the Mykolaiv City Hall;
• a draft decision on the city council's work plan for the first half of 2026;
• changes to the composition of the supervisory board of the municipal enterprise of Mykolaiv City Council;
• a programme of professional training and development of officials and deputies for 2026-2028;
• Integrity Plan of Mykolaiv City Council for 2025-2027;
• discuss the city programme «Physical Culture and Sports» for 2026-2028;
• consider the city target programme «Youth Policy» for 2026-2030.

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What preceded the conflict?

On 22 October, during a meeting of the Commission on Legality and Publicity, a number of deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council expressed doubts about the legal grounds for the creation of a new inter-factional association called «Sanation».

Olena Kiseliova, chair of the commission and head of the «European Solidarity» faction, said that the deputies had submitted documents for registration of the group electronically, which raises doubts about the authenticity of the signatures of two deputies from «Sharii's Party», as there are doubts that they are in Ukraine.

As a reminder, the group consists of 9 City Council members:

• Andrii Yermolaev («Proposal»)
• Serhii Kantor (elected from «Nash Krai»),
• Svitlana Babarika («European Solidarity»),
• Oleksandr Rozumnyi («Servant of the People»),
• Yurii Stepanets («Servant of the People»),
• Tetiana Dombrovska («Servant of the People»),
• Oleksandr Kovtun (elected from «Sharii's Party»),
• Larysa Drobot (elected from «Sharii's Party»),
• Andrii Kucherenko (elected from «Sharii's Party»).

The group was headed by Andrii Yermolaiev, former director of the anti-corruption department of the city hall. According to him, the aim of the association is to «improve the processes in the Mykolaiv City Council».

It should be noted that the documents for registration of «Sanation» were submitted, among other things, by email from the «mailbox of the servant of the people» Tetiana Dombrovska.

Subsequently, on 27 October 2025, Yevhen Pavlovych, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council from the faction «Proposal», who is a member of the Commission on Legality and Deputy Ethics, spoke harshly about his colleagues elected from the banned «Sharii's Party». He stated that they have no moral right to remain council members, as they do not fulfil their civic duty during the war.