A district court in the Ukrainian capital Kiev has placed former Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov under house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet until December 28, 2025, Ukrinform reports.
He will be allowed to leave his home only if necessary to receive emergency medical care or to a civil defense shelter during an airstrike.
Trukhanov must refrain from contact with witnesses and surrender his passport and other travel documents.
The court's decision can be appealed within five days from the date of its announcement. After the hearing, Trukhanov's lawyer, Alexander Lysak, said that the defense intends to appeal the decision.
The investigation is being conducted into alleged official negligence related to the September 30 flood that killed nine people, including a child. The investigation found that the city's stormwater drainage system had not been properly maintained for years. Trukhanov said he did not expect to be served with a signal. According to him, the city council, services and utility workers acted during the state of emergency.
After Ukrainian authorities officially stripped Odessa Mayor Trukhanov of Ukrainian citizenship, his functions were temporarily taken over by the city council secretary, Igor Koval, the official website of the Odessa City Council reported.
The decision comes just days after President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree revoking Trukhanov's Ukrainian citizenship. The reason for this is an investigation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), according to which Trukhanov also holds a Russian passport. He himself categorically denies this and stated that he will continue to fulfill his duties as mayor until the court or the city council decide otherwise.
The presidential decree itself does not automatically lead to the removal of the mayor from office. According to Ukrainian law, the mayor's term of office is terminated only after the city council officially accepts the fact of deprivation of his citizenship.
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Trukhanov, who has governed Odessa since 2014, is a controversial figure in Ukrainian politics - a former deputy, associated with pro-Russian parties and repeatedly accused of corruption. The revocation of his citizenship and the transfer of government to military control marked the end of his political influence in the region, although he publicly insisted that he remained a "legitimate mayor elected by Odessans".