The Odessa City Council has appointed a new deputy mayor

Oleksandr Somovwas appointed acting deputy mayor of Odesa for matters related to the activities of the city council’s executive bodies. He assumed his duties on November 12, 2026.

This is stated in an order issued by Igor Koval, the acting mayor of Odesa.

According to the document, Somov was appointed on a temporary basis—until the position is filled in accordance with Ukrainian law. The official’s salary was set in accordance with the staffing table.

The personnel decision was based on a personal request from Oleksandr Somov, as well as a recommendation from O. I. Chernova, acting chief of staff of the Executive Committee of the Odesa City Council.

In 2020, Oleksandr Somov was elected as a deputy to the eighth convocation of the Fontanka Village Council representing the “EU” party. 

Oleksandr Somov submittedhis 2025declaration as a candidate for the position of acting deputy mayor of Odesa on November 11, 2026—the day before he officially took office. In the document, he listed his wife, Angela Somova.

All of the family’s declared real estate is registered in the official’s wife’s name. According to the document, Angela Somova has owned an apartment in Odesa with a total area of 90.6 square meters since 2009, and since 2008, a land plot measuring 22,780 square meters in the village of Velykyi Buyalyk, Berezivka District, Odesa Oblast. Neither the official himself nor his wife owns any vehicles, construction projects in progress, corporate rights, or valuable movable property.

Oleksandr Somov’s salary was the family’s sole source of income in 2025. At the municipal institution “Center for Financing and Economic Activities of Educational Institutions in the Peresyp District of Odesa,” he earned 151,817 hryvnias. He received an additional 95,894 hryvnias in salary from the Fontanka Village Council in the Odesa District.

The couple keeps their savings primarily in cash. Oleksandr Somov personally declared 2,000 euros and 25,000 hryvnias in cash, as well as 2 U.S. dollars in a PrivatBank account. His wife, Anzhela Somova, keeps 20,000 U.S. dollars in cash. 

Previously,the Center for Public Investigations (CPI) examined salaries at the Odesa City Council. Journalists found that over the first eight months of 2026, Inna Popovska, director of the Odesa City Council’s legal department, was paid 706,900 hryvnias—the highest amount among the heads of executive bodies. 

Second place went to Galina Savchenko, acting director of the Finance Department, with 644,800 hryvnias. Next, with an identical amount of 615,600 hryvnias, are Mykola Makohonyuk, director of the Department of Analytics and Control, and Serhiy Shcherban, director of the Department of Transportation, who held the position until September 17, 2026. Rounding out the top five is Andriy Rozov, Director of the Department of Economic Development, with 597,500 hryvnias.

Юлія Калабайда