“Autocratic tendencies are developing.” The mayors of Ukraine’s major cities are dissatisfied with Zelensky’s policy

Disagreement with mayors

During the Russian military special operation revived Old political divisions in Ukraine, according to an article in the Washington Post. Although at first an informal agreement was signed between the country’s politicians to put aside old contradictions and “talk a united front against Moscow.”

“Since declaring independence from the disintegrating Soviet Union in 1991, there has been a remarkable change in a country plagued by political conflicts, corruption and Russian influence. But now, during the war, as the country receives billions of dollars in international aid, the relationship between the central government and local leaders has cracked and tensions are rising.

The recent tensions between President Volodymyr Zelensky, “a very popular leader in wartime,” and Ukrainian mayors trying to defend or rebuild their devastated cities and towns, “highlight Ukraine’s growing internal problems,” the authors said.

Ukrainian mayors and experts interviewed told the Washington Post that Zelenskiy’s government “seems to be trying to pull the mayors aside in order to maintain control over the (foreign – Gazeta.ru) aid and weaken future political rivals.”

Also, some mayors have publicized their concern that, in the midst of the war, the Zelensky administration abandoned its promises and plans to rid itself of the remnants of the Soviet era by decentralizing power and giving additional powers to regional and local governments. .

In particular, Dnipro Mayor Boris Filatov told the editors that “autocratic tendencies are beginning to develop in Ukraine.” At the same time, the city he ruled became “a key channel for the delivery of weapons and aid to the country’s military front.” Filatov said mayors whose communities are at the forefront want more control over how their communities are rebuilt.

The authors of the material, like others, criticize the Zelensky government with an important caveat: whatever the internal divisions, the biggest enemy is Russia and the West must continue to support Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty.

power struggle

The report also states that Filatov, who was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2020, has clashed with Zelensky in the past. After it became known that the president wanted to deprive the citizenship of the politician, the co-chairman of the Opposition Platform – Party for Life Vadim Rabinovich and businessman Gennady Korban, oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, Filatov was “indignant”. He worked closely with Korban, who led the Dnieper’s defense headquarters to resist Russia. In an interview with Politico, he said he saw the situation with Korban as a “tragic mistake”.

The article says Zelensky’s disagreements with regional officials intensified after he dismissed the head of the SBU and the country’s attorney general and announced a “wide-ranging investigation into treason and collaboration.” In addition, the president’s party performed poorly in the 2020 local elections, and party members were unable to hold a mayoral position in any major city at the time.

The article says that while the world is helping Ukraine, the central government has full control of the tens of billions of dollars allocated to rebuild destroyed cities. Zelensky also created regional military administrations, whose powers often exceed those of civilian local governments. All this “caused disappointment among mayors.”

“Among the debris, mayors are trying to forge their own international partnerships with countries or cities willing to fund certain rebuilding programs,” the Washington Post wrote.

And the mayor of Chernigov, Vladislav Atroshenko, was outraged that he did not allow the border guards to leave the country for a conference in Switzerland dedicated to the restoration of Ukraine. The mayor also wanted to find money to restore the settlement entrusted to him. He was not released because men of military age were forbidden to leave the country.

“Today the city has to endure the attacks of its subordinates instead of resisting the attacks of the enemy,” he said, and also accused Zelensky’s government of trying to remove him from power.

He was supported by his colleague, the mayor of Rivne, Alexander Tretyak. He leads a city that has not been harmed by rocket attacks but has received thousands of refugees.

Atroshenko is trying to do everything possible to attract investors, invite business, invite other countries to help, solve the problem. That is a normal thing. I am trying to do the same. “I can’t just sit around in my city and wait for my central government to help me,” Tretyak said.