Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky today appointed a new administrator to run the Black Sea port city of Odesa after stripping the former mayor of his citizenship, which automatically led to his resignation.
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Serhii Lysak, previously governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, was appointed one day after the removal of Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov, who allegedly held a Russian passport. Lysak takes charge of Odesa’s newly established military administration, a wartime practice that allows the president enhanced powers over local authorities, though it has faced criticism as undemocratic.
Ukraine: Mayor had condemned Ukrainian “de-Russification” movement
Trukhanov, who was first elected in 2014, has denied having Russian citizenship and said he will appeal to the courts. Elections are currently not being held in Ukraine due to martial law.
Trukhanov had condemned Ukraine’s “de-Russification” movement that began in 2014, when Moscow occupied and annexed the Crimean Peninsula, and which accelerated rapidly after Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.
