The Odessa City Council Concealed a Document on the Division of Powers with the City Council

Since the establishment of the Odesa City Military Administration in the fall of 2025, there are currently two de facto centers of governance in the city: the city council and the military administration. However, the exact division of powers between them has not been publicly disclosed.

The Center for Public Investigationssubmitted a request to the Odesa City Military Administration (CMA) and the Odesa City Council asking for a copy of the document regulating the division of responsibilities between the city government and the military administration.

In their response, officials from the Military Administration stated that cooperation between the Odesa City Military Administration and the Odesa City Council takes place in a constructive manner and in accordance with the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law.” 

At the same time, the Odesa City Council reported that they had not found any documents in their electronic document management system that matched the description in the request. A search of the database of Executive Committee decisions and the mayor’s orders based on the specified criteria revealed no such documents.

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SCREENSHOT: Odesa City Council’s response

After that, journalists from the Center for Policy Research (CPR) sent another request—asking for a list of documents that were classified or designated as official information (DSK) during the period from October 1, 2025, to February 15, 2026.

However, the military administration also denied this request, noting that the requested information also falls under the category of restricted-access information.

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SCREENSHOT: Response from the Military Administration

Anatoliy Boiko, coordinator of the nationwide public campaign“Evaluation of Local Council Members” and chair of the Odesa Committee of Voters of Ukraine, notes that additional regulation of the interaction between the military administration and city authorities would be logical.

“The legislation in this area contains many gaps, so additional regulation of these gaps through a specific memorandum between the Military Administration and the city council would certainly not be superfluous. In addition, according to a number of council members and city council representatives, such regulations on the division of powers do indeed exist, but they are classified; therefore, if they truly exist, we insist that they be made public,” he said.

As a result, the situation appears paradoxical: the military administration claims the document exists but is restricted, while the city council reports that no such document was found in their system.

On October 14, President Zelenskyy stripped Odessa MayorGennady Trukhanov of his Ukrainian citizenship, after which he formally lost his mayoral powers. The next day,Zelenskyyannounced the creation of the Odesa City Military Administration, and on October 16, the new head of the Odesa City Military Administration,Serhiy Lysak, was introduced in Odesa.

Meanwhile,Ihor Koval, secretary of the Odesa City Council, has assumed the duties of Odesa’s acting mayor.

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