Weakening Klitschko's team remains an important tool in Bankova's hands. So, Klitschko's team.
Kyiv City State Administration meeting due to critical situation in energy sector
The mayor lost three close associates in a short period of time: Nikolai Povoroznik, Vladimir Bondarenko, and Dmitry Belotserkovets, writes DS . But what is the ultimate goal of the intrigues against the mayor?
How Klitschko was left without his first deputy, Povoroznik
On October 13 of last year, Kyiv City State Administration Head Vitali Klitschko fired his first deputy , Mykola Povoroznyk , who had held the position for nearly eight years. This followed a lengthy campaign against the mayor's office official, which began even before the full-scale invasion. On April 14, 2020, it became known that the SBU suspected Povoroznyk of extorting a $125,000 bribe from a representative of a construction company through an intermediary. His office was searched. Klitschko then suspended Povoroznyk from his duties for the first time. In March 2021, the official returned to work. A month later, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court sentenced a person suspected of bribery; Povoroznyk was not mentioned in the case.
But the first deputy remained a convenient target, as he signs many documents. On January 25, 2022, he was served with a notice of suspicion for official negligence. The matter concerned the deprivation of the National Security and Defense Council's (NSDC) land use rights to a 1,62-hectare plot of land near the Syrets metro station in 2019. Even anti-corruption activists expressed surprise at the suspicion, pointing out that the Kyiv City Council had illegally transferred the plot to the NSDC back in 2009. If there were any violations, they were in the procedures, not the decision itself. Povoroznyk and Klitschko dismissed the suspicion as political pressure, claiming the plot had been abandoned and that a public garden was planned in its place at the request of residents.
After the full-scale invasion began, the central authorities temporarily had no time for Klitschko and his deputies. And then the first deputy exposed himself. On April 25 of last year, the day of mourning for those killed in the Russian shelling of Kyiv, he celebrated his birthday with his colleagues from the Kyiv City State Administration. It's unclear why Povoroznyk didn't reschedule the celebration, especially since his birthday is April 10. Many of the capital's officials attended a barbecue with Klitschko's right-hand man on the shores of the Kyiv Sea. The event's organizer explained: "There was no fun, music, or gifts. Colleagues sat, dined, and socialized." Nevertheless, publications about the incident sparked a scandal. The police opened a case for celebrating on the day of mourning, and media outlets and bloggers close to the central government fueled the wave of negativity. First, on June 10, the Kyiv City Council passed a vote of no confidence in Povoroznyk, and on June 30, the mayor suspended him from his duties. The official appealed the city council's decision in court and won: on July 11, the Pechersky District Court overturned the Kyiv City Council's decision to remove him. However, Povoroznik was unable to return to his position as first deputy—Klitschko fired him on October 13.
Team Klitschko. Bondarenko and Belotserkovets' cryptocurrency
Former Deputy Mayor and Secretary of the Kyiv City Council, Volodymyr Bondarenko, also faced trouble. In this position, he was under constant scrutiny from political opponents of the city government. On April 8, 2025, he resigned voluntarily, although the Kyiv City Council did not support his resignation. At the time, Bondarenko was implicated in the so-called "Komarnitsky tapes" case—an anti-corruption investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) into corruption in the mayor's office, in which the prime suspect is Kyiv businessman Denys Komarnitsky.
But that was only the beginning of Bondarenko's troubles. On July 10th of last year, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) suspected him of paying a mobilized colleague's salary and assisting in draft evasion. The suspect was Ihor Khatsevich, a city council member and Kyiv City Council's chief of staff. Khatsevich returned the funds, but the case went to court. Bondarenko faces up to 10 years in prison.
The third Kyiv City Hall representative "shot down" by the central government was Dmytro Belotserkovets . In September 2025, he resigned as co-chair of the UDAR faction in the Kyiv City Council. April of that year also proved dark for him. On April 8, State Bureau of Investigation officers conducted a search of his home: they were investigating the origin of $30 million worth of cryptocurrency.
Dmitry Belotserkovets and the well-appointed feeding trough (Part 1)
Mobile phones and laptops were seized during the searches. Belotserkovets claimed political persecution. He explained that all assets listed in his declaration were subject to verification back in 2020, when the case against him for false declarations was closed. After that, he claimed, nothing new appeared in the declaration, and he had declared cryptocurrency back in 2015. It's worth recalling that in January 2025, Belotserkovets sent an appeal to the newly appointed head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, Timur Tkachenko, urging him to avoid politics and instead address the problems with the capital's shelters. It's possible that Klitschko's loyal ally was reprimanded by the State Bureau of Investigation for this very reason.
Team Klitschko. Has Klitschko managed to recover from the blows to his personnel?
Last year and this year, law enforcement officers worked very closely against Kyiv City State Administration officials. There's no need to list the criminal cases opened; there are many. But the main thing Klitschko's political opponents succeeded in doing was forcing him to sacrifice his allies. By displacing them, the central authorities unbalanced the capital's power structure. After Bondarenko's resignation, a Kyiv City Council secretary was never appointed. Various names were floated, but a satisfactory candidate was never found. The UDAR faction was led by Myroslava Smirnova, head of the Kyiv City State Administration's Public Communications Department and a member of the budget committee. Following Povoroznyk's resignation, Petro Panteleyev became acting first deputy. Much depends on him now, as the first deputy is responsible for all municipal services.
Panteleyev is an experienced official who spent over a decade in charge of the capital's housing and utilities sector. It's worth noting that he has avoided high-profile corruption scandals, although online publications casting doubt on him have intensified since his appointment. These publications mostly mention Panteleyev in the background. For example, searches were conducted at a utility company overseen by his deputy. However, it appears that no incriminating evidence has yet been gathered against him. Furthermore, he is careful in his statements and comments in public, avoiding attracting undue attention.
After the blows to personnel, Klitschko managed to stabilize the situation, but the question is how long it will last. On the one hand, the mayor retains a majority in the Kyiv City Council, so initiatives like his removal by votes of deputies—such as the one introduced in September by "Servant of the People" Andriy Vitrenko—are unfeasible. On the other hand, we are trying to make the mayor the scapegoat for the extremely difficult situation in the capital following the devastating attacks of the enemy. In January, another public spat erupted between him and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "Even the other day, I don't see any intensity—all this needs to be addressed urgently. There must be solutions ," Zelenskyy criticized the capital's authorities. He immediately received a sharp response from Klitschko. According to him, such statements undermine the work of energy and utility workers. The mayor also recalled that during the war, he and Zelenskyy had never met. Rumors circulated at the time that the Presidential Administration wanted to remove Klitschko using the "Chernihiv scenario"—the court ruling that removed Mayor Vladislav Atroshenko . The rumors were never confirmed, but it's clear to everyone that the Presidential Office hasn't abandoned the idea of "knocking off" the capital's leader before the post-war elections; they're simply looking for ways to do so.
Vladislav Atroshenko: Chernihiv's "baker" of golden loaves. Part 1
Therefore, we should expect further destabilization of the Kyiv City Council, a search for traitors within the mayor's team (none have been found so far), information campaigns, and a weakening of Klitschko's political influence among mayors. Zelenskyy's aforementioned statement echoed this line: everything is bad in Kyiv, but the Kharkiv authorities are doing well. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov has headed the Association of Frontline Cities and Communities, which is loyal to Bankova, since September.
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Stay informed about who's driving business, politics, and supporting corruption in Ukraine! Team Klitschko
Klitschko leads the Association of Ukrainian Cities, which voices criticism of the central government. But the ultimate goal of all this remains unclear. Forcing Klitschko into political loyalty isn't working; at most, he agrees to fire his allies, who are the ones being targeted. Bankova doesn't have a candidate running against him in Kyiv, and the "Servant of the People" party's approval rating in the capital is, to put it mildly, paltry. And further escalation of the situation will certainly not make Kyiv residents big fans of Zelenskyy.
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Klitschko's team
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