Ukraine Dismisses Roman Mrochko as Kherson Military Administration Head

The President of Ukraine has dismissed Roman Mrochko, the head of the Kherson MVA, who had been in charge of the administration since March 2023. The official has many years of experience in the military prosecutor's office, declared hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings and is involved in criminal cases in Russia.

The relevant order was published on the website of the head of state.

"Dismiss Roman Mykolayovych Mrochko from the position of the head of the Kherson City Military Administration of the Kherson district of the Kherson region," the document reads.

Mrochko has been the head of the Kherson MMA since March 2023, when he was appointed by a decree of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Prior to that, he had extensive experience in the military prosecutor's office and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In August 2022, he voluntarily joined the army, and even earlier, in February of the same year, after the start of the full-scale invasion, he took up the position of Head of the Internal Investigation Team at the Vinnytsia Zonal Department of the Military Law Enforcement Service.

Since 2011, he has worked as a prosecutor in various garrisons, from Lviv and Chernihiv to Luhansk, Kyiv, and Vinnytsia. From 2017 to 2022, he was the Deputy Military Prosecutor of the Southern Region. In 2011, Mrochko graduated from the Yaroslav the Wise Law Academy, and in 2017 he received another degree in accounting and taxation from the Ternopil National Economic University.

According to the Chesno movement, Mrochko was sentenced in absentia to 6 years in prison in the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic". Criminal proceedings have also been opened against him in Russia.

The former official has a number of honors, including the title of "Honorary Citizen of Sievierodonetsk" and awards from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. His father, retired General Mykola Mrochko, was the head of the Central Automobile Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Back in May 2023, a petition demanding the dismissal of Roman Mrochko, along with the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, was registered on the president's website. It was authored by a citizen Yulia Hryshchenkova. The petition mentioned a number of problems, from the lack of shelters and garbage collection to the distribution of humanitarian aid and the demolition of the market town, which affected local entrepreneurs. The petition collected the 25,000 signatures needed for consideration, a total of 25,161 votes.

In response, Zelensky recalled the procedure for appointing and dismissing heads of military administrations, as defined by law, and said that the petition had been submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration.

According to his declaration for 2024, Roman Mrochko owns land plots, income from business activities, received 466 thousand hryvnias in salary from the General Staff of the Armed Forces and 681 thousand from a military unit. He keeps 111 thousand US dollars and 35 thousand hryvnias in cash.

Анна Бальчінос