Court in Odesa does not send MP to jail

The court remanded in custody the deputy of Odesa district council Anatoliy Khmilkivsky. He was sentenced to five years in prison with confiscation of property, and until the verdict enters into force, he will remain under round-the-clock house arrest.

This was reported by the Court Reporter with reference to the court verdict.

In 2023, the businessman planned to lease a 4-hectare land plot for a truck parking lot near the highway towards Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. Through his acquaintances, he got in touch with MP Khmilkivskyi, who offered to resolve the issue for $450,000, calling it "representation expenses." According to the prosecution, he planned to appropriate the money for himself and not transfer it to the head and deputies of the village council, and the businessman transferred him an advance of $10,000.

At the trial, the deputy pleaded not guilty, claiming that he provided consulting services for the registration of a land plot and estimated them at USD 50 thousand, as well as received an advance. He explained that the conversations recorded during covert investigative actions concerned only official expenses, such as the development of a land management project, expert examinations, geodesy, and annual rent.

The court concluded that Khmilkivskyi's explanations did not correspond to the content of the recorded conversations and the evidence of the examination, and the so-called commission was much higher than the actual services he was going to provide. The list of consultations was too generalized, and the assessment of their value was questionable.

The defense argued that the entrepreneur provoked the crime, but the court found no evidence of this and did not agree that the applicant was a provocateur.

On August 12, 2025, the High Anti-Corruption Court found the MP guilty. He had been under house arrest since April, and in March, the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office announced his detention on suspicion of bribery. In addition to his prison term, the court ordered the confiscation of all of his property. He was placed under round-the-clock house arrest until the verdict enters into force. The suspect has the right to appeal.

According to media reports, in 2020, Khmilkivsky was involved in the scandal with the "Yermak tapes", where he allegedly discussed positions in the Odesa region with the brother of the head of the Presidential Office. He stated that he did not remember this incident and did not know the name of the interlocutor.

Also, Hennadiy Trukhanov and Vitaliy Barvinenko tried to bail out the mayor of Vilkovo, Matviy Ivanov, who is suspected of corruption. At the end of July, the court sent him to custody with a bail of UAH 39 million. According to the investigation, he was covering up the illegal extraction of sand from the Danube for the construction of the terminal.

Анна Бальчінос