A court in Kyiv has placed the former mayor of Odessa, Hennadiy Trukhanov, under 60 days of house arrest on charges of official negligence, just weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revoked his Ukrainian citizenship.
The Pechersk District Court in Kyiv issued the ruling on October 31, granting the prosecution’s request after investigators accused Trukhanov of mismanagement during the deadly floods in Odessa that claimed several lives.
Trukhanov, a former member of Ukraine’s Parliament and mayor of the Black Sea port city since 2014, was officially notified days earlier that he was under investigation for failure to properly perform his official duties.
Speaking via video link during the court hearing, Trukhanov described the case against him as a “politically orchestrated distraction,” insisting that he had done nothing wrong.
According to the investigation, the former mayor failed to ensure the proper operation of the city’s drainage system and neglected to warn residents of potential emergency risks on September 30 — the day devastating floods struck Odessa.
“As a result of the flooding in part of the city, caused by the drainage system’s failure to absorb water from the streets, nine people died, including a 9-year-old child,” prosecutors said on October 29.
Trukhanov said he was “surprised” by the authorities’ decision to treat him as a suspect but admitted that Odessa’s drainage problem was “catastrophic.”
“Solving this issue requires billions in investment and government support. The city alone can never handle it,” he added.
Immediately after the September 30 tragedy, Trukhanov said the city had experienced rainfall in just seven hours equivalent to nearly two months’ worth of precipitation.
“No sewage system could withstand such a load,” he wrote on Telegram.
Two weeks after the floods, President Zelensky announced that he was revoking Trukhanov’s Ukrainian citizenship, citing reports from the state security agency indicating that the former mayor held a Russian passport.
Trukhanov has vowed to file a lawsuit to regain his Ukrainian citizenship.
For years, the former mayor has faced allegations of holding Russian citizenship — a violation of Ukrainian law. Earlier, some Odessa residents launched a petition to strip him of citizenship, claiming he also paid taxes in Russia.
However, not everyone agreed with the move, arguing that Trukhanov had been fairly elected and that, with Ukraine still at war against Russian forces, there were far more urgent issues to address.
