- Oleksandr Syrskyi has warned that Russia has intensified it’s offensive on all fronts and that the Russian Forces have taken even more territory in the Sumy region.
- Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has stated that he doesn’t expect Russia to negotiate in good faith tomorrow in Istanbul.
The gloves are off between Zelensky and mayor Klitschko
Vitali Klitschko was a heavyweight boxer before becoming mayor of Kyiv, but now faces a fight for control after the Ukrainian president curbed his powers
In one corner is Vitali Klitschko, the towering mayor of Kyiv who, when he was a world champion heavyweight boxer, was renowned for his knockout power. In the other is President Zelensky, the diminutive president who has demonstrated remarkable staying power during three years of war with President Putin.
The two men are perhaps Ukraine’s most internationally recognised politicians. But they are now effectively at war after a simmering grudge between them became public. Zelensky has forced Klitschko, who is said to harbour presidential ambitions despite an aborted run in 2014, into a political clinch from which his escape looks improbable. The president has used martial law to appoint a rival military administration in the capital to mirror the mayor’s responsibilities.
Meanwhile, a string of arrests by the national anti-corruption bureau under an operation called Clean City has exposed widespread corruption under Klitschko’s watch. Seven of his subordinates have been arrested, with another three under investigation.
Klitschko, 53, has lashed out at Zelensky’s administration, complaining that the work of his city council had been paralysed by “raids, interrogations and threats of fabricated criminal cases” that prevented his deputies from meeting a legal quorum for decision making.
“This is a purge of democratic principles and institutions under the guise of war,” he told The Times in Kyiv. “I said once that it smells of authoritarianism in our country. Now it stinks.”
The dispute is as much personal as it is political. When Klitschko criticised Zelensky’s approach to peace negotiations in February, the former comic belittled the former boxer. “Klitschko is a great athlete, but I didn’t know he was a great speaker,” the president said
Klitschko’s portrayal of the feud as an act of presidential overreach plays to growing concerns that Zelensky’s consolidation of wartime powers has come at the expense of democratic principles
He accused Zelensky of using military administrations across the country to wrest power from elected mayor
“Mknows,” any of the mayors are intimidated, but my celebrity status is a protection. You can fire the mayor of Chernihiv, but it is very difficult to fire the mayor of the capital who the whole world Klitschko said. “That is why everything is being done to discredit and ruin my reputation.”
Yet independent experts suggest the conflict goes deeper, reflecting real concern about abuse of city funds in wartime.
“There should be no doubt that these arrests are not just politics, but a response to manifestations of corruption in the Kyiv city administration,”
---- said Volodymyr Fesenko, a political scientist who heads the Penta think tank.
Some in Zelensky’s administration had their own vested interests in the capital, he added. “There is a lot of money in Kyiv. Some businesses that are oriented towards President Zelensky would like to have access to the financial flows in Kyiv.” That did not mean the mayors had no questions to answer, Fesenko added. “During the war money should go primarily to defence, to protect the country, yet there is all this construction,” said Fesenko. “In some other cities, even stadiums are being built. In the Donbas there are large landscaping projects. The frontline is near by, and the money is not going to defensive structures, but to greenery.”
Residents of Kyiv say they are perplexed that despite the constant threat of Russian airstrikes, densely populated high-rise apartment blocks are being thrown up instead of shelters, schools, hospitals or metro stations.
Often these buildings are constructed by developers using a legal loophole known as a “toilet scheme”, under which they erect a small temporary building, such as a pay-per-use toilet, on unused public land.
This gives them something akin to squatters’ rights, allowing them to develop the land, as long as the right wheels are greased.
Many of the ten Kyiv officials under investigation are charged with corruption related to the allocation of these property permits. Klitschko’s former deputy mayor, Petro Olenych, has been charged with taking bribes to help conscripts flee the country, while Denys Komarnytskyi, a former councillor under investigation for embezzlement, has fled to Austria.
Klitschko said he had sacked eight of the officials investigated as part of the Clean City operation. “I have 4,500 employees in this building alone and about 300,000 employees working for the city,” he said. “Corruption cases sometimes happen, but we react harshly and quickly. We co-operate with law enforcement, provide all the necessary information and hope for an impartial investigation of all cases.”
Nonetheless, critics accuse Klitschko of stifling the development of Kyiv’s infrastructure over his 11-year tenure. Traffic chokes the city, while bridges and key roads are clogged with cars throughout the working day. A fourth metro line that could ease congestion, promised by Klitschko in 2017, has failed to materialise after eight years, with a series of stations actually shutting down last year owing to poor maintenance. Instead, a fleet of antiquated cash-only “marshrutka” — small private buses — belch diesel fumes across the city. When an air-raid warning sounds, they become the only form of functioning public transport.
Yevheniia Kuleba, an opposition councillor from Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, blames the mayor for the city’s problems. “He’s connected with this marshrutka mafia, these small yellow buses,” she said. “They’re in a very bad condition, but they’re taking cash from people. Of course, when you take cash, you don’t know whether they pay taxes or how much.”
Klitschko hit back at the claims. “This is part of the lies and manipulation being spread by the president’s office and the Servant of the People party,” he said.
The mayor’s main rival in Kyiv is Tymur Tkachenko, who was appointed head of the city’s military administration by Zelensky five months ago. Tkachenko accused Klitschko of unacceptable “weakness” during wartime.
“Mr Klitschko could not close the brothel in the basement of the same building where he lives,” Tkachenko told The Times, referring to Tootsies, a notorious strip club raided and shut down by the state security service last month as part of an investigation into sex trafficking. The club was next to a hotel and apartment complex owned by Klitschko and his brother Wladimir, 49. The mayor said the claim was a “lie” designed to “pour mud”. He said he had no relationship with the “table dancing club” and that he did not interfere with the economic activities of businesses.
“When corruption flourishes in the city, from construction sites to cemeteries, it is impossible without the city government,” Tkachenko added. “This mayor has been in office for over ten years, without transparency in the city, with a bunch of schemes, without necessary decisions. In fact, because of the image of an old sports star. Kyiv deserves better.”
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