Shelling, bribe-takers, and fare hikes: the week's highlights

The shelling continues

Almost every day from November 9 to 16, Odesa region was attacked by drones. The Russians send kamikaze drones along with fake targets - decoy drones - which greatly complicates the work of air defense.

Photo: Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office

On the night of October 8-9, Russian troops launched another attack on the Odesa region with unmanned aerial vehicles. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, on the night of November 9, the enemy attacked from the areas of Prymorsko-Akhtarsk and Oryol. 51 Shahed-type strikes by UAVs and unidentified drones, and Odesa region became the epicenter of the attack.

The shelling of civilian objects in Odesa and Odesa region by the Russian army continued for the fourth night in a row from November 9 to 10. Another attack by drone strikes in Odesa damaged residential buildings, shops, garages, and cars. Fires broke out in some locations. Two civilians were injured.

Some decoy drones flew into Moldova, and Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai Popschiu condemned the violation of Moldovan airspace by two Russian drones. According to the minister, this "endangered the lives of Moldovan citizens."

On November 11, emergency power outages were introduced in Ukraine due to the shelling, which were canceled the same day. Russian shelling of Odesa for four days in a row damaged 121 private and 14 apartment buildings.

On the evening of November 14 , Russian troops attacked Odesa with two X-59/69 guided missiles from the Black Sea and 29 Shahed attack drones. The shelling killed a woman and hospitalized nine people. Residential buildings were also damaged. The shelling also damaged the main district heating pipeline and monuments in the historic center of Odesa. The head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration noted that one of the downed missiles struck three locations at once. It had a cluster munition.

Fare hike

On November 11, announcements of an increase in bus fares in Odesa appeared in the transportation media. It was reported that the increase would take place on both city and some suburban routes.

Photo: Odesa Life

On December 1, fares for city buses will rise from 15 to 20 hryvnias. On the same day, Volodymyr Khytrenko, director of the Odesa City Council's transport department, said that a new tariff for one-time travel in city electric transport would be introduced on December 1, at 15 hryvnias. The cost of reusable travel tickets will also change.

This is the second increase in bus fares since the full-scale invasion - in July 2022, bus fares in Odesa went up to 15 hryvnias, and the last time public transport fares went up was in October 2021. It was then that a tram or trolleybus ticket began to cost 8 hryvnias if paid in cash and seven if paid using mobile applications or bank cards.

However, it was not only fares that were raised in Odesa Oblast. For example, in the city of Reni, Odesa region, they plan to increase water and sewerage tariffs. However, local residents do not agree with this decision and took to the streets to protest.

Bribe-takers in the village council and among anti-corruption activists

This week was not without arrests on suspicion of bribery. Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police detained the head of a village council in Odesa region on suspicion of extortion and bribery.

Photo collage: Intent

According to the investigation, in return for a bribe of UAH 50,000, the official promised not to initiate court proceedings to collect the rent arrears for the use of the land plot on which the company's facilities are located. The entrepreneur did not pay the rent for the land, and the head of the community knew about it and decided to make some money on it.

Also in Odesa region, the anti-corruption commissioner of one of the region's state-owned enterprises was detained. Together with an accomplice, he was extorting a bribe from a man liable for military service. The anti-corruption officer and his accomplice offered the man to "resolve the issue" of exemption from military service in the Armed Forces. For their "services," they asked for $17,000, with $7,000 received as the first tranche.

Influence of journalists: tetrapods were dug up in Chornomorsk after journalists' publications

In October, the Center for Public Investigations published a study on the problems with the tetrapods, which were installed on the beach in Chornomorsk, Odesa region, and were covered with sand.

Photo: Telegram channel GANUL

Significant budgetary funds were allocated for their installation, and journalists expressed fears that the money for such structures was wasted. And on November 10, it was reported that the contractor's construction equipment had finally begun to remove the fortifications from the sand.

This year, the lion's share of contracts of the regional department of capital construction and road facilities were defense-related tenders. In total, there were 112 of them for a total of UAH 2.8 billion. 59 contracts worth 2.7 billion were concluded for the construction of fortifications and 53 contracts worth 36.5 million for construction supervision.

From Suvorov to Katlabuh: a community in Odesa Oblast decolonized

On November 12, a meeting of the 54th regular session of the Suvorov village council of Izmail district took place. The key issue on the agenda was the renaming of the village council and its executive committee to the Katlabug village council and the executive committee of the Katlabug village council, respectively.

Photo: Katlabuzka community

On September 19, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the first resolution to rename 328 settlements as part of the decolonization process. The village of Suvorove also received the new name Katlabuh.

Discussions around the topic of renaming Suvorove had been going on for over a year. According to the results of a vote held by the community authorities among the local population, the name Bessarabske received the most votes. However, the parliamentary Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning surprised us by approving the name Bessarabske for Tarutino village in Bolhrad district. Therefore, in early April of this year, the aforementioned Verkhovna Rada committee approved the name Shykyrlyk for the village of Suvorove. But as it turned out, it was not the final name either. A little more than two weeks later, on April 19, the name Katlabug was approved for Suvorove in the draft resolution on renaming certain settlements and districts No. 11188. Thus, on September 19, the Verkhovna Rada approved this option as the final one.

Boiler house shutdown

On the morning of November 16, Odesa City Hall announced the shutdown of the Severnaya-1 boiler house due to the need to repair a pipe. The boiler house was out of service from 12:00 to 20:00 approximately.

This is not the first time this has happened in a week. On the night of November 12 and until the morning, the utility company OdesaHeatSupply shut down the Severnaya-1 boiler house due to the need to repair a pipe. It should be noted that on the eve of the start of the heating season, during the investigation of the work of the Odesa City Heat Supply Utility by the Center for Public Investigations, journalists found that the reconstruction of the chimney and flues of the Severna-2 district boiler house was supposed to be completed on November 1. And the dismantling of a part of the chimney of the district boiler house "Pivnichna-1" was supposed to be completed on September 30.