Odesa region in a week: Kiper vs. Pushkin, two sessions and renaming of villages

Decolonization of Odesa region: renaming villages and demolition of Pushkin

On Friday, September 20, the head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Oleh Kiper, when asked by a City of Power journalist whether they plan to demolish the Pushkin monument in front of the Odesa City Council, replied that the relevant order to dismantle it had already been signed and the documents sent to all relevant agencies.

A journalist and Oleh Kiper near the Pushkin monument. Photo: "Cities of Power"

He reminded that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine had excluded monuments to Russian and Soviet figures from the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Cultural Heritage of National Significance. This includes the monuments to Pushkin on Prymorsky Boulevard and Vorontsov on Soborna Square in Odesa.

Before and after the full-scale invasion, Odesa residents and activists called on local authorities to demolish the monument, considering it a symbol of Russian occupation. However, the city authorities rejected these demands.

For example, Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov stated that he did not support the dismantling of the Pushkin monument. At the time, the mayor argued that the monument could not be demolished because it was included in the UNESCO register.

But this was not the only act of decolonization in Odesa Oblast - the Verkhovna Rada decided to do its part. On the second attempt, the parliament passed a resolution to rename more than 300 settlements as part of decommunization. 281 MPs voted in favor of this. They renamed 10 settlements, but failed to change the name of the city of Yuzhne to Port Annental. On September 18, the resolution on renaming did not receive the required number of votes, which caused outrage among some MPs. After the failure of the vote, some MPs blocked the rostrum of the Ukrainian parliament, demanding that the resolution be reintroduced for consideration.

Two sessions - two scandals

The week was marked by two sessions of city and district councils, which were not too loud and controversial, but not without scandals.

Photo collage: Intent

The session of the Odesa City Council took place on September 18, and the day before it became known that the deputies decided to offer the sale of two plots of land in the city's resort area. This was not illegal in itself, and even beneficial for the budget, but there was a nuance. The land was being sold to Natalia Bondarchuk, a member of the mayor's party "Trust the Deeds" at a price of less than $200 per square meter, while the Dim.Ria platform at the same address offers 13 acres of land for sale, for which the owners are asking $1,600,000. That is, USD 1,230.8 per square meter. Eventually, the deputies agreed to the sale.

On September 18, at the XXXIII session of the Odesa City Council of the VIII convocation, the deputies considered almost 60 draft decisions.

Among other things, the deputies approved changes in the composition of the executive committee and the standing committee on communal property, economic, investment, state regulatory policy, and entrepreneurship. Former deputy mayor of Odesa Svitlana Bedrega, who was dismissed in July, was officially removed from the executive committee, and MP Oleksandr Slavskyi was appointed to the commission on municipal property and immediately elected chairman of the commission.

The MPs also decided to increase the maximum amount of compensation for condominium associations and housing cooperatives for the purchase of generators.

In addition to the official part of the session, there was also an unofficial part that was not broadcast for security reasons. For example, the Paralympic medalist Oleksandr Lytvynenko was awarded.

And on the eve of the session, it turned out that city hall officials had forgotten to ask for 200 thousand hryvnias for the Heroes' Alley.

As for the district council, Intent learned about the session almost by accident. Noting that the council's website had videos of meetings of permanent committees, the journalists, guided by their own experience, decided that the session was about to take place and asked Vitaliy Barvinenko, the head of the district council , for confirmation. He confirmed that the meeting would be held soon and that the publication's correspondent would be able to attend.

However, when the journalist tried to enter the hall of the Odesa Regional State Administration to attend the session of the district council and cover its course, security guards prevented him from doing so. However, it is known that at the beginning of the session, deputy of the Odesa District Council Dmytro Kot resigned his seat early. This decision was supported by his colleagues. Viktor Maslanych joined the Odesa District Council as a representative of the Servant of the People party, taking Dmytro Kot's place.

Since the beginning of the year, the Odesa District Council has held six meetings without announcements to the public and the press, as well as timely publication of broadcasts. One of these meetings was held on June 19, and the deputies elected Artur Mkrtichyan as deputy chairman of the district council. As Vitaliy Barvinenko, the head of the district council, explained to Intent, such actions of the council were caused by security issues.

Flood and Kiper against Odesa City Hall

On September 15, the Odesa region was again hit by a heavy downpour, with almost half a month's worth of rainfall - 19 millimeters - falling in the morning. Due to the downpour, 11 streets were flooded, and public and private transportation was blocked. But it's not just road closures and flooded cars that threaten us with heavy rains. In Odesa region, there is a risk of water pollution due to floods in neighboring countries. We are talking about the Dniester and Danube rivers, as well as Lake Yalpug, which are sources of drinking water supply for part of the population of Odesa Oblast. This was reported by the Odesa Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rescuers are rescuing people from the flooded basement of the Rayduzhny residential area. Photo: State Emergency Service in Odesa region

To prevent the emergence of infectious diseases in the region, a number of preventive measures have been intensified: monitoring the quality of drinking water supply, constant health monitoring, and sanitary and educational work among the population.

The Odesa municipality reported that traffic has resumed on streets previously flooded by heavy rain. 11 streets were flooded. These natural phenomena caused the head of the Odesa regional administration, Oleh Kiper, to criticize the work of the city hall, saying that the city council was more concerned with renaming streets than with the problems of the city. Oleg Kiper also said that on Monday, September 16, he would address the city council to explain how this situation came about.

Searches of politicians: continuation

On Thursday, September 20, there was information about searches of the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Odesa City Council, Vadym Morokhovskyi.

Vadym Morokhovskyi. Photo: Wikipedia

Intent wrote that the search may be related to the investigation into the head of the Odesa Regional Council, Hryhoriy Didenko. Later it became known that they were indeed conducted by employees of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. On the same day, Vadym Morokhovskyi confirmed that he had been searched and emphasized that they did not concern him personally or Vostok Bank. The investigative actions are related to another case and he is cooperating with the investigation.

Recently, the NABU conducted searches at the residences of Hryhoriy Didenko, head of the Odesa Regional Council, and his advisor, Lilia Tomashevska. The anti-corruption officers also visited one of the regional council members. The reason was suspicions of corruption schemes related to the restoration of the Odesa Regional Medical and Physical Therapy Dispensary.

Large exchange of prisoners

On September 14, a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine took place, and 103 soldiers who had previously been captured by the occupiers returned home. Three of the Ukrainian soldiers released from Russian captivity on September 14 are natives of Odesa region.

The liberated soldiers. Photo: The President's Office

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War clarified that 38 National Guardsmen were among those released this time. The Ukrainian Armed Forces managed to return 28 soldiers: two from the Kraken special forces, two from the International Legion, three from the Special Operations Forces, and one from the Territorial Defense Forces. Eight border guards, four police officers, twenty-one sailors, three representatives of the State Special Transport Service, and one from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are going home.

Tenders and actions

Odesa also hosted rallies against inappropriate tenders and rallies to remind prisoners who have not yet been released, and journalists from the Center for Public Investigations investigated which tenders in Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions were announced and canceled precisely because they were inappropriate during the full-scale invasion.

On September 21, Odesa residents also lined up in the city center along Preobrazhenska Street in the historic center of the city, starting at the corner of this street and Deribasivska Street. Several dozen citizens held placards with inscriptions: "Stop all inadequate tenders", "divide the budget as if it were yours, not our families', who are at the bottom", etc. Almost 60 such actions have taken place in Odesa since last year.