Letʼs start with the latest news concerning your colleague. Recently, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HCC) of Ukraine allowed the arrest of the mayor of Odesa, Gennady Trukhanov, in the case of the "Krayan" plant. The mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko wanted to take Trukhanov as a surety. He stated that this case is a pressure on local self-government. Do you agree with him — is it the pressure of the country authorities?
I have no right to comment on the courtʼs decision. During the presidency of Volodymyr Zelenskyi, a decentralization reform took place in our country, which is ongoing. I do not see pressure on me and my colleagues. I maintain friendly relations with Trukhanov, but I do not know the details of his case.
Okay, letʼs talk about power and decentralization. We made a large profile of Oleksiy Kuleba, who is responsible for the regional policy in the Office of the President. How do you work with him?
We interact with him regarding the life of the city, military issues, restoration of energy supply. Recently, there was a meeting with representatives of the Presidentʼs Office, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Community Development and Infrastructure. We are preparing for the new heating season.
In general, we have a very constructive dialogue. When something happens, they call me, or I call them, we have support. Therefore, pressure on local self-government is a far-fetched thing. Show me the pressure, just not with emotions, but with facts.
For example, recently your colleague, the mayor of Dnipro Boris Filatov, complained in an interview that after a meeting with the assistant commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, he received calls from Kyiv — he does not say who called — and asked about his political ambitions. Isnʼt that pressure?
It is difficult to comment on what you do not understand and do not know. I have never had any questions regarding communication either with Valery Zaluzhny or with other military personnel. This could not and cannot be a priori.
A few weeks ago, you were on a business trip to Kyiv at the International Summit of Cities and Regions and stated that your priority for this year is the reconstruction of housing, the social sphere, and infrastructure. Hence two questions: where will you get the funds and what will you rebuild first?
Fortunately, there are not as many shellings as there were, and we are working. Over the past year, 200 houses were restored. Where to get funds is the main question. At the end of April, I was in the United States and communicated with various foundations and financial institutions. There were also political meetings — with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and the issue of money was raised at all meetings. According to our rough calculations, $9.5 billion is needed to restore everything. It is clear that Ukraine cannot afford to allocate such funds, I am not talking about the Kharkiv budget. Therefore, we will attract funds from financial institutions, various foundations, and private investors. For our part, we must guarantee transparency, openness, and targeted use of these funds.
Are investors ready to invest now, and not after the war?
I insist that Ukraine must be restored immediately — without waiting until the war ends and we win. We are not sitting idly by because we are working on the Kharkiv master plan together with Norman Foster. We cooperate with foundations. I am meeting with Azerbaijani, American investors, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). There are relations with investment banks regarding the construction of the subway, transport projects, housing restoration.
We must be ready for investors to come in and invest in new enterprises where people will work. Industrial, scientific, and IT sectors are developed in Kharkiv. I want them to work so that students return to the city. Therefore, the security situation is the main thing, and itʼs necessary to have modern air defense systems.
During my trip to the USA, I found understanding and support from my partners. Many private investors are interested in investing in Kharkiv. But it is impossible to return a full-fledged life to the city, if schools and kindergartens are not open. We are paying attention to this, and at this stage we need project documentation, bomb shelters. It is important that we are ready, with projects and business plans, when the war ends.
Another topic of the conference in Kyiv was humanitarian demining. In November, two children — 12 and 14 years old — were blown up by a fragment of a cluster munition in the Saltivka district, they had their legs wounded. You also wrote that in the area of Northern Saltivka there was a cassette frozen in the ground, which was blown up on the spot. How long will it take for demining?
This is a very important question. Currently, miners and employees of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are demining forest strips, green zones and beaches in the city. Whether we like it or not, it will be hot, people will want to go to the beach. How can we stop this? Thereʼs no way. Part of the demining work has already been done, and no one is stopping. I discussed this issue in the USA, they help us here. Cemeteries are also being demined, we need to open all cemeteries to visitors.
We recently spoke with architect Max Rosenfeld. He said that many people are returning to Kharkiv, even to Northern Saltivka. What is the situation with jobs in the city?
Yes, a lot of people have returned. Many want to return in the near future. This is related to the educational process — people expect to come with their children. I think there will be strong competition between cities for people, business development, and investors. The other day, I signed a memorandum with the Lutheran World Organization, they support us a lot and allocate certain funds for reconstruction. They will also provide grants for starting a small business. These are small funds, but good for a start. We ourselves also create the conditions for business to return to the city, and it returns — new shops, hairdressers, and restaurants are opening.
You already mentioned Norman Foster. At one time, his architectural bureau worked on the project of the Russia tower as part of Moscow City in Moscow. When you approached him about the city reconstruction project, wanʼt it an ethical obstacle for you?
I have a lot of respect for this man for everything he has done. And for the fact that he responded and took up the project of restoring Kharkiv, rolling up his sleeves. And for courage, because he came to Ukraine, and I met him [in Uzhgorod, last December].
As for Moscow City, firstly, I did not know about it, because at that time decisions were made in minutes, and secondly, he is a big supporter of Ukraine — one of those who constantly lobbies for our interests, and in matters of arms supply also.
When he worked on the Moscow City project, he did not know that Putin would attack Ukraine. And what should he do now? Bomb that district? He also designed the Reichstag.
There is a question related to reconstruction. In December, a number of city mayors, including the head of the Association of City Mayors, Vitalii Klitschko, spoke out against draft law 5655. It is criticized for restricting the rights of communities and lobbying developers. Why didnʼt you sign the mayorʼs letter?
Tell me, please, do you have other mayors besides Klitschko? [laughs]. You will not see my signature there. I think... Look, there is a war going on in Kharkiv. Iʼm not saying that people donʼt die in the Dnipro or Kyiv, God forbid. But when there is a war, I believe that we should rally around the leader of the nation, and today it is Volodymyr Zelenskyi. There is no need to shake anything, because how will our international partners look at us? They will say, first let them solve their internal issues. When people die, you have no business criticizing this or that law or talking about pressure on local self-government bodies.
In several of your interviews, in particular in our interview last year, you spoke positively about the former lawmaker from the pro-Russian OPzZh party Ihor Abramovych, who, according to you, helps the city a lot. And what about other Kharkiv businessmen? Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi promised to sell his yacht and transfer funds (about $50 million) for the restoration of Kharkiv, but then it was withdrawn from sale. There is also Borys Lozhkin, also a well-known Kharkiv native who has been living abroad in recent years, Oleksandr Feldman — did they help?
Abramovych helped and continues to help Kharkiv. I am grateful to him, and to refuse from lawmakerʼs mandate is his own choice. In my opinion, he did everything right. As for Oleksandr Vladlenovych [Yaroslavskyi] and his yacht, that is a question for him, I have not seen it. I spoke with him about the Metalist football club, and he assured me that he would continue to support the football team as he had supported it.
As for Borys Lozhkin, I spoke with him on May 12, he also helped during active hostilities, provided humanitarian aid. Our conversation concerned the restoration of the Menorah in the Drobytskyi Yar near Kharkiv — we agreed that we would do it. Feldman has suffered a lot from the market fire, so he helps as much as he can.
In one of your posts, you defended Ihor Abramovych, writing that he was a "white crow" in the pro-Russian OPzZh faction. However, many members of OPzZh directly contributed to Russiaʼs attack on Ukraine. Donʼt you see the dissonance in the fact that a former member of this faction is helping a city that the Russians are shelling?
Abramovich was a white crow, but first of all he is from Kharkiv, and the story of his life is connected with the city. I believe that he defended and defends the interests of Ukraine, despite the fact that he was in the OPzZh.
In the Kharkiv City Council, in the last elections, 19 mandates were won by candidates from OPzZh, and 7 by representatives of the Shariy Party. How do you currently work with these people?
There is a constructive majority in the Kharkiv City Council. The Shariy Party is not represented in the city council, they have become extra-factional, some of them went to fight on the frontline and were wounded, and some are far away. Itʼs the same with OPzZh — there are non-factional members, and there are those who were close to Viktor Medvedchuk, and the SBU is looking for them. Those who were more or less constructive, created the Restoration of Ukraine faction. We cooperate with them very constructively.
I want to ask you about the situation with reburials. We wrote a long text about Territorial Defense fighter Roman Simonok, who was buried in a mass grave — trenches where unidentified people were put in sacks. Was he reburied?
We reburied him in the winter. All procedures were carried out there, including a DNA test, and only then were we allowed to rebury.
In an interview with the Voice of America, you said that you had already reburied some of the people from the mass graves, but a lot remained. What is the quantity? Is it necessary to carry out DNA there, to identify individuals?
About 900 more people need to be reburied and DNA tests conducted. If we were allowed, we would have done everything already, but there are procedures for documenting the crimes of the Russian Federation. The law must be followed. By the way, when I was in the USA, our partners insisted that the documentation should take place within the limits of international law, because it would also be evidence of the crimes of the Russian Federation.
A year ago, we talked with you in the Kharkiv metro. You spoke cautiously about the dismantling of the monument to Marshal Zhukov and suggested returning to this topic after the war. How did your opinion about Zhukov change, and how did you rethink your attitude towards Russia?
The war changed many things in the mentality of all Kharkiv residents. Marshal Zhukov... What can I say? There is no monument to it, there is no monument to Pushkin either [in Kharkiv anymore]. But the main thing is that 95% of Kharkiv residents demonstrated to the world that the interests of the nation come first, and that Ukrainian cities will always be Ukrainian.
In April 2022, a monument to Soviet Marshal Georgiy Zhukov, which had been the subject of controversy for years, was dismantled in Kharkiv.
I donʼt want to say anything about Zhukov, but I want to say something about the victory in the Second World War. We as Ukraine, our partners — the USA, Great Britain, gave Putin and Russia the opportunity to usurp victory in the Second World War. If we had acted together, he would not have been able to say that Russia won. How many lives did Ukraine, other countries of the then USSR, and our allies put on it? I visited the war memorial in Washington, every state has people who were lost in war. We must analyze our mistakes, we must say that it was not Russia that won, but Ukraine, the USA, Great Britain, and other countries. This is ideology, we have to understand the history of the past years and then we will build the right ideology for the future.
And finally, the question of language. During our interview, you tried to speak Ukrainian, although at the beginning of the year, language ombudsman Taras Kremin said that he receives the most complaints about Kharkiv officials, including you. In court, you fought for the right to communicate in Russian in social networks and in real life — with the people of Kharkiv. And then they generally said that you speak Slobozhan dialect of Ukrainian. In this language, we know several words — trempel (hanger), ampulka (pen rod), syavka (yard dog). Is there a suitable word for Putin in Slobozan?
[Laughs]. Not yet, but we will find it. I think there are many worthy words for him in the Slobojan language, letʼs announce a contest. Iʼm the mayor of Kharkiv, I canʼt always say everything thatʼs on my mind.
Translated from Ukrainian by Anton Semyzhenko.
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