Ex-mayor of Odesa Trukhanov claims political reprisal through deprivation of citizenship

The former mayor of Odesa, Trukhanov, said that he learned about the deprivation of Ukrainian citizenship from journalists on his way to work. According to him, the decision was made on the basis of a "photocopy of a Russian passport" with mistakes in the surname and without any explanation or summons to the commission.

Trukhanov said this during a conversation with MP Oleksiy Honcharenko.

The former mayor of Odesa said that the decree depriving him of Ukrainian citizenship was adopted without his participation and without providing official documents. According to the official, he learned about the decision on October 14, 2025, from journalists' reports when he was on his way to the city hall.

Trukhanov claimed that for a long time he could not get a copy of the presidential decree and the case file. Only after his lawyers appealed and filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court, he said, did they begin to provide some of the documents. He stated that the grounds for deprivation of citizenship were allegedly a photocopy of his Russian passport and a contract with a lawyer, which, in his opinion, are questionable documents. The mayor of Odesa emphasized that the copy of the passport even contained mistakes in the spelling of his surname.

He also stated that he had not been summoned to the commission meeting and had not been asked to provide explanations before the decision was made. He also drew attention to the contradictions in the responses of the State Migration Service: first, the Odesa region allegedly said that they had not prepared a submission on the loss of citizenship, but later the court documents revealed that it was the regional department of the SMS that had participated in the preparation of the materials.

The ex-mayor also stated that even after being deprived of his citizenship, he had access to state secrets until October 30, 2025. According to him, the permit was canceled only after his lawyer appealed to the SBU and other authorities.

Trukhanov categorically denied having Russian citizenship and said that similar accusations had been made since 2014, mostly on the eve of the election. He emphasized that he had previously undergone SBU checks and received official certificates of no Russian citizenship. He attributes the current situation to political motives.

The other day, former Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov said that the shadow Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which used the President to raid Odesa, meets in the apartment on Hrushevskoho Street, which appears in the Mindich tapes.

He stated that the president was used to sign an illegal decree with his own hands, remove the mayor from office and clear the way for the raider seizure of Odesa.

Earlier, MP Honcharenko released new transcripts of the so-calledMindich tapes, which, in particular, referred to a possible change of leadership in Odesa. The recordings include discussions of scenarios related to the introduction of a military administration in the city. The recordings also discuss the possibility of removing the current mayor , Hennadiy Trukhanov, in the event of a military administration.

Анна Бальчінос