The acting mayor of Chernihiv Oleksandr Lomako declared that he is resigning.
He published the relevant appeal on Facebook.
Lomako claims that he was forced to do this by officials from the military administrations, who, on the instructions of the Office of the President, took "the city hostage".
He is probably talking about the head of the Chernihiv City Military Administration Dmytro Bryzhynskyi and the head of the Chernihiv Regional Military Administration Vyacheslav Chaus.
"They told me in simple terms: if I donʼt [resign], they will plunge the city into chaos. And they showed what will happen if I refuse: disruption of the budget for 2025, a complete shutdown of the cityʼs largest hospital, lack of settlements with contractors working to restore the city, a stoppage of food in preschool education institutions, a complete stoppage of public transport, not a penny for the Armed Forces and much more," says the acting mayor.
In particular, Lomako declared the disruption of regular sessions of the city council and more than 40 searches in the city council.
What is happening in Chernihiv
On September 15, 2022, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) handed the then mayor of Chernihiv Vladyslav Atroshenko a protocol due to a "conflict of interests": his driver crossed the state border in his car with official permission during the war and returned — Atroshenko had to report this to NAPC, because the driver did not leave because of work.
Because of this, on December 7, 2022, the Yavorivsky District Court of the Lviv region suspended Vladyslav Atroshenko from the position of mayor of Chernihiv for a year. Atroshenko himself said that he is "not going anywhere" and will file an appeal. But the appeal also refused to reinstate him.
In February 2023 in at. Oleksandr Lomako became the secretary of the city council. In June of the same year, his deputy was informed of suspicion of large-scale corruption. Lomako himself called it "another attempt by officials from the center to paralyze the work of the city council and its executive bodies".
In June, Atroshenko declared that he had been dismissed from the post of mayor. Lomako told Suspilne that the dismissals will be contested in court.
After that, Lomako was repeatedly searched — in particular, in September and October 2023. The first search related to the project of the International Committee of the Red Cross to restore the fuel supply equipment at the Chernihiv thermal power station, the second — Lomakoʼs departure abroad.
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