The Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration has submitted his resignation
Kyiv is once again discussing corruption within the city government. A new report has surfaced about the Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration responsible for self-government, Volodymyr Prokopiv. Investigative journalists from Bihus.Info. revealed how two of Prokopiv's friends acquired at least six properties that previously belonged to the city through private companies.
The individuals in question are his fellow countrymen from Prykarpattia – Oleksandr Poshtaryuk and Andrii Stetsenko. Coincidentally, before they began acquiring what is now former communal property, they had helped Prokopiv's family obtain elite housing at a low price.
Mayor Klitschko remained silent for a week
The first article titled "The family of Klitschko's deputy purchased apartments and offices across Kyiv during his tenure" was published by Bihus.Info. on October 14 of this year. The next article on this topic was released on October 21. Throughout the week, there was no response from Klitschko to the critical reports.
9 Prior to this, at the beginning of October, the Mayor of Kyiv traveled to Leipzig, where he participated in a ceremony awarding a media prize for freedom and the future of the media. He also publicly stated that "in a democratic society, media freedom is respected and developed." It would have been appropriate for Vitalii Volodymyrovych to add that the authorities must respond promptly and decisively to journalistic criticism. Perhaps he forgot to mention this… Or deemed it unnecessary, as it would then require explaining a lot about the actions of his subordinates.
Klitschko only reacted a week later to the behind-the-scenes life and flourishing of Prokopiv's family and his friends. Before that, he had remained silent. Such indifference could not go unnoticed by the residents of Kyiv. For instance, Facebook user Oleksa Shkatov expressed dissatisfaction: "Did Klitschko wait eight days, hoping that the scandal would somehow blow over? But the circle is tightening..."
0 On the morning of October 22, Klitschko posted on social media that he had asked law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies to "verify the facts presented by investigative journalists from Bihus Info regarding the Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Volodymyr Prokopiv." During the investigation, Klitschko suspended Prokopiv from his duties.
About the "evil" evenings and mornings of the mayor
It is strange that the mayor did not mention the "evil morning" of October 22, drawing an analogy with the "evil evening" in the case of his protégé – former head of the Kyiv Metro, Viktor Braginsky.
On March 14, Mayor Klitschko wrote on social media: "Evil evening. With unpleasant, shall we say, revelations for me... Conclusion. Viktor Braginsky will be suspended from the duties of director of the capital's metro. Or he won't resist and will write a resignation letter himself. And then the facts revealed in the investigation by Bihus Info must be addressed by the relevant authorities. Law enforcement," Klitschko stated.
1 His previous leniency towards Braginsky, who was part of the "UDAR" faction, the capital's head explained by saying, "You can't look into everyone's soul."
"But when they lie to your face, and behind your back they pull rabbits out of hats, it looks very bad. And not just in relation to me personally, but in relation to the residents of Kyiv," the head of the Kyiv City State Administration expressed his outrage at that time.
After Braginsky, it quickly became time to clear the office of another favorite of the city authorities.
On March 21, 2024, the director of "Kyivpastrans," Dmytro Levchenko, who had been favorably regarded by the mayor, was forced to leave his warm position.
2 Kashтан NEWS reported that it is possible that fate did not accidentally lead Levchenko – a minor manager at the start of his career – to a rapid rise to the top of the company, namely "Kyivpastrans" with hundreds of millions in budget hryvnias. Levchenko's father-in-law is Roman Serhiyovych Romaniuk, a close associate of Vitalii Klitschko. In 2009-2010, Romaniuk was the head of the political party "Nova Kraina," which was renamed "UDAR." Later, he became a people's deputy of Ukraine (in the seventh and eighth convocations of the Verkhovna Rada). In the seventh convocation (2012-2014), Romaniuk was elected from "UDAR," and today he is part of the "UDAR" faction in the Kyiv City Council.
"You can't look into everyone's soul," Vitalii Klitschko said regarding the personnel in his close circle.
But what about the uncompromising fight against corruption, proclaimed with great pomp and disseminated throughout all districts of the capital in hundreds of thousands of glossy brochures? It was Klitschko who, when running for the position of mayor, declared: "We will abolish the corrupt distribution of communal property and land. All city resources will be sold at auctions. With this money, communal tariffs and transportation fares will become social."
Did he abolish it? Everything went in the opposite direction: the distribution of communal property has surged massively. Journalists convincingly demonstrated this through the example of the dealings of two of Volodymyr Prokopiv's friends, who pocketed at least six pieces of communal real estate.
Let us recall another promise from Klitschko: "To overcome corruption, create an effective vertical of power under the control of a single representative body of all Kyiv residents – the Kyiv City Council."
Has it been overcome? Corruption has flourished even more.
Prokopiv was empowered to eradicate corruption
In the 2014 Kyiv City Council elections, Prokopiv was elected as a deputy and headed the land commission. As noted by the public movement "Chesno," "under Prokopiv's leadership of the land commission, the city council leased 118 square meters of land in the courtyard on Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street for 10 years to LLC 'Stolychniy TsUM,' which belongs to oligarch Rinat Akhmetov."
3 Prokopiv was elected secretary of the Kyiv City Council and deputy to the mayor Vitalii Klitschko on December 1, 2015. He chaired a commission to assess corruption risks in the Kyiv City Council.
On October 25, 2020, he was elected to the Kyiv City Council. He joined the Kyiv City Council's commissions for assessing corruption risks in activities and for regulations, deputy ethics, and corruption prevention.
In March 2021, Prokopiv was appointed deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration for self-government issues.
As we can see from this official's biography, he also had the opportunity to eradicate corruption in Kyiv. Yet, for some reason, there has been no news of his successes in this area.
A Kyiv resident Vitaly Melnik commented on the current scandal involving Prokopiv on Facebook: "Did Mayor Klitschko really not know what this 'young' politician had been doing for ten years, or did he not want to see? People like Prokopiv have no place in power, especially at the capital level."
And if in the case of Braginsky, Klitschko "pulled rabbits out of the hat," what can be said about the case of Prokopiv? Maybe this time they pulled some "peacock" out of the hat?
Volodymyr Prokopiv has meticulously cared for his image. From Prokopiv's Facebook page, we see that he helps everywhere: personally planting trees with foresters, working with green space workers, and even participating in the ecological disposal of New Year's trees. He was also involved in the opening of a dog walking area in the "Sovky" park.
Prokopiv tried not to give reasons for public scandals, except for his comments during a session of the Kyiv City Council. Recall that in December 2023