Millions in cash and shares in Poland: declarations of Kherson City Council deputies

The Kherson City Council, which effectively ceased to function after the outbreak of full-scale war, is rapidly losing deputies due to resignations, criminal cases, and suspicions of treason. Nevertheless, current and former MPs declare tens of millions of hryvnias in cash, luxury property and large land assets - often without official income or registered to relatives.

TheCenter for Public Investigations, together with Intent, analyzed the declarations of Kherson City Council members for 2025. Out of 53 elected officials, 22 current and 9 former deputies had declarations in the NACP register.

Since February 2022, the council has not actually met - there are no plenary sessions, and the Verkhovna Rada transferred the powers of Kherson City Council to the head of the city military administration in November of that year. Since then, the deputy corps has been gradually disintegrating: 19 deputies have already resigned, some voluntarily, while Volodymyr Saldo and Ihor Semenchev Sr. were deprived of their mandates by the court for treason. No new deputies have been appointed, as the city election commission is not functioning.

Six more current deputies are under investigation, four of them are suspected of treason: Ihor Zhytchenko (OPFL), Ihor Semenchev Jr. (Bloc of Volodymyr Saldo), Aliona Rotova (OPFL) and IlyaKaramalikov (We Live Here).

Of these, only Ilya Karamalikov has been in pre-trial detention since 2022. In addition, in March 2024, MP Yuriy Poputko ("Servant of the People") was suspected of abuse of power, and Roman Pidperyhora ("Volodymyr Saldo Bloc") has been under investigation since 2017 on suspicion of taking a bribe. In addition, former MP-turned-traitor Volodymyr Saldo is also under suspicion and has a low sanction .

According to the available data, more than half of the elected officials are outside Kherson: some serve in the Armed Forces, some have moved abroad or to other cities, and a few are in the occupied territory.

The current members of the Kherson City Council declared a total of UAH 32.9 million in income and almost UAH 52 million in savings in 2025. Nine out of ten hryvnias of savings are kept in cash - UAH 50.3 million: the banking infrastructure of Kherson, destroyed or inaccessible due to the hostilities, apparently does not inspire confidence in some of the elected officials.

The rector of the Kherson Maritime Academy, Yuriy Kyrylov, earned less than his wife - 86% of his family income came from her. For the third year in a row, MP Yevhen Plyas has been keeping UAH 14 million in cash without any declared income. And 92 hectares of land in the family of Deputy Mayor Oleksandr Lozhychev are registered exclusively for his wife - the official himself declared zero. Former elected officials from the pro-Russian OPFL and the collaborator Saldo bloc have tens of millions in savings with no visible sources.

Family earns more

The total declared income of 22 current MPs is UAH 32.9 million, of which UAH 24.3 million is personal funds of the MPs and UAH 8.6 million is the income of their family members.

The ranking is headed by the rector of the Kherson State Maritime Academy, Yuriy Kyrylov, a member of the Servant of the People party. However, he personally declared only UAH 0.89 million; the remaining UAH 5.86 million was declared by his wife. The total family income grew by a modest 5% compared to 2024 (UAH 6.44 million), but the proportion of "wife earns more" remained the same.

The most noticeable jump is in the income of Yurii Stelmashenko, an advisor to the patronage service of the Kherson Regional Council and a member of the OPFL: +172%, from UAH 0.78 million to UAH 2.12 million. Last year, he was not even in the top 10 of the current MPs.

Likewise, Halyna Luhova, former secretary of the Kyiv City Council and now a representative of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, increased her income from UAH 1.15 million in 2024 to UAH 2.13 million in 2025. Both jumps are likely due to the predominant increase in state salaries in wartime.

Dmytro Poddubnyi, a deputy from the "We Live Here" party, entrepreneur and owner of Poddubnyi, declared zero income in 2024, and in 2025 he already had UAH 2.35 million from business.

Three MPs declared zero income: Ilya Karamalikov, a member of the "We Live Here" party, and entrepreneur, and Andriy Medvedev and Yevhen Plyas, members of the "Servant of the People" party. The latter is the leader of the savings rating with UAH 14.4 million in cash. Oleksiy Zabolotnyi and Yuriy Poputko declared less than UAH 200 thousand.

Cash instead of banks

The total amount of savings of 22 current MPs is UAH 52 million. The structure: UAH 50.3 million in cash and only UAH 0.56 million in bank accounts. Another UAH 1.7 million is in loans to third parties.

Yevhen Plyas tops the ranking for the third year in a row: UAH 14.43 million in cash on hand and not a single penny on the accounts. The amount has hardly changed - in 2024, it was UAH 14.49 million. At the same time, there is no declared income.

Yuriy Kyrylov had the most dynamic result: his savings increased from UAH 2.10 million to UAH 4.74 million, which is two times more. Most of the increase is in the accounts of his wife (UAH 2.52 million out of UAH 4.74 million).

Four MPs have the bulk of their savings with family members:

• Kyrylov has accumulated UAH 2.22 million, his wife has UAH 2.52 million;
• Demchuk - UAH 0.42 million, his wife - UAH 1.44 million;
• Kharchenko - UAH 0, his wife - UAH 1.27 million;
• Lozhychev - UAH 0.76 million, his family - UAH 1.14 million.

Halyna Luhova declared UAH 2.13 million in income and no savings.

Meters for the family

MP from the Servant of the People party, businessman Kostiantyn Kyrychenko is the leader with 678 square meters of residential real estate. Mostly, these are personal squares: a 517-square-meter apartment in Kherson stands out even against the background of this list.

Ilya Karamalikov declared420 square meters of housing in Kherson exclusively for his family - a 300 square meter house and two apartments. The elected official has zero square meters of housing for himself.

Three of the five leaders have most or all of their housing registered to their families. Instead, Serhiy Kharchenko, a prosecutor of the Prosecutor General's Office, declared his main residence - 160 square meters - in Kriukivshchyna, Bucha district, Kyiv region, and not in Kherson, where he holds a mandate as a deputy.

Garages, warehouses and commercial space

Only three of the current MPs have commercial real estate. Karamalikov is the undisputed leader with 7 non-residential properties in Kherson with a total area of 840 square meters. Along with 420 square meters of housing and 0.89 hectares of land, he is the MP whose property is present in all categories of real estate at the same time.

92 hectares - and none of his own

The main surprise of the section is the declaration of Oleksandr Lozhychev, a deputy from the European Solidarity party and head of the transport and economic services group at the Kherson City Council, who owns 15 land plots in Kakhovka and Kherson districts with a total area of 92.42 hectares. All of them are exclusively for his wife: Lozhychev 's own share is zero.

Kostyantyn Kyrychenko is in second place: 10.54 hectares, of which 10.47 hectares are registered to his family. These are mostly 2-hectare plots in Muzykivka, Kherson district. His personal share is 0.07 hectares.

Lexus, Audi, Infiniti

Five MPs declared two vehicles each - no one else has more. Lozhychev stands out here as well: both business-class cars are registered exclusively to his wife. The rest of the MPs have one car for themselves and one for their families. The brands include Lexus, Infiniti, two Audis, and two Toyotas.

The only jewelry in the declarations of the current MPs is a Brig watch worth UAH 90 thousand owned by Yuriy Kyrylov.

OPFL, the Saldo block and 34 million without a source

Nine former MPs who resigned or lost their powers before 2025 submitted their declarations to the NACP. They are not included in the main ratings, but their wealth is a separate topic.

For example, Yevhen Trotskyi, a former member of the "We Live Here" party, declared UAH 34 million in savings with zero income. Almost the entire amount is in cash. He filed the declaration as a deputy of the Kherson City Council.

Anton Khmaro, who was once elected from the OPFL, also reported as a city councilor. He declared UAH 7.35 million in income and UAH 17.2 million in savings. Most of the savings belong to his wife: UAH 16.78 million. The couple owns a Toyota RAV-4 Hybrid and a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150, both made in 2020.

His colleague Mykhailo Opanashchenko indicated that he has UAH 7.16 million in savings and 6.64 hectares of land in 5 plots in the Posad Pokrovska community of Kherson district. Like the previous elected officials, he filed the declaration as a deputy.

Another former MP from the OPFL, ophthalmologist Olena Breslavets, declared savings of UAH 5.49 million with an income of UAH 0.72 million.

No declarations were found in the NACP register for the deputies of the Saldo bloc - Saldo himself and both Semenchevs, whose powers were terminated early due to cooperation with the occupiers. Instead, Ihor Pastukh submitted a declaration: UAH 2.53 million of income and 1.57 hectares of land - not in Kherson, but in Mohyliv-Podilskyi and Bucha districts. Now he is an advisor to the patronage service in the Chernivtsi District State Administration.

Zero earnings, millions in the safe - and land for everyone but himself

Thus, the declarations of the Kherson City Council for 2025 revealed several stable patterns. Almost all savings are in cash: probably Kherson deputies trust safes more than banks.

From the interesting: Yevhen Plyas saves UAH 14.4 million year after year without any official income - this amount has remained virtually unchanged over the past three years. Yuriy Kyrylov has doubled his savings, while earning ten times less than his wife.

Oleksandr Lozhychev declared 92 hectares of land and two business-class cars, but formally, everything is for his wife, and he has zero. Kostiantyn Kyrychenko accumulates real estate and a land bank mainly through his family, with his own share not reaching one percent. And among the former MPs from the OPFL, there are tens of millions in savings.

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