Officials of Odesa City Hall sent to pre-trial detention center without bail

The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv has imposed pre-trial restraints on suspected officials of the Odesa City Council and the subordinate utility company City Roads in the case of the deaths during the September 30 floods.

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the head of a structural unit and the chief engineer of a structural unit of the City Roads utility were placed under nightly house arrest with electronic monitoring devices.

The Director of the Department of Municipal Security, the Chief Engineer and the Director of the Municipal Roads Utility were imposed custody as a measure of restraint with an alternative bail of UAH 1.5 million.

The Director of the Department of Municipal Economy was imposed custody with an alternative bail of UAH 3 million. All of them are suspected of negligence that caused the deaths.

Pechersk District Court also imposed a measure of restraint on former Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov in the form of round-the-clock house arrest and wearing an electronic bracelet, and on Deputy Mayor of Odesa for Executive Bodies Hanna Pozdnyakova in the form of nightly house arrest until December 28, 2025.

The mayor of Odesa denies all prosecutors' charges. In response to the allegations that the sewage system had not been reconstructed or repaired, he said that about 3 billion hryvnias had been spent on this during his tenure as mayor. He also rejected the accusation of improper notification of the population, saying that he was the only one who warned the citizens. He was not present at the meeting, but joined it from Odesa via video.

So far, eight people have been notified of suspicion in connection with this tragedy, including deputies Hanna Pozdnyakova and Valeriy Silin, director of the City Roads utility Vadym Todiychuk, and director of the Municipal Economy Department Leonid Hrebenyuk.

Кирило Бойко