On Tuesday, October 14, Volodymyr Zelensky revoked the citizenship of Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, citing his alleged Russian nationality, according to Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU). The move effectively removes him from office and marks the most drastic step yet in the escalating standoff between Kyiv’s central government and regional leaders. The latter claim that Zelensky is using wartime powers to tighten control over cities and regions governed by opposition figures.
From 1982 to 1993, Trukhanov served in the military—first in the Soviet army, then in the Russian one. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, officers were given a choice: swear allegiance to Russia, join the military of a newly independent state, or resign. Trukhanov chose to remain in service, effectively becoming a Russian officer and, as a result, a Russian citizen. This serves as grounds for the loss of Ukrainian citizenship: under the law, voluntarily joining the armed forces of another country automatically results in the loss of Ukrainian nationality.
In 1993, Trukhanov returned to Ukraine with a Soviet passport. According to available information, he delayed formalizing documents confirming his Ukrainian citizenship until the late 1990s. By that time, sources suggest, he may have held Greek and Italian citizenships and had not renounced his Russian one. When Trukhanov later became a member of parliament and then mayor of Odesa, he failed to inform Ukrainian authorities about his other citizenships, also in violation of the law. Thus, legally, he could have lost Ukrainian citizenship twice—first by serving as a Russian officer, and again by concealing the existence of foreign passports.
Trukhanov, who has led Odesa since 2014, denied holding Russian citizenship and said he intends to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. Under Ukrainian law, citizens are prohibited from possessing Russian citizenship.
Suspicions that Trukhanov, a former member of a now-banned pro-Russian party, holds Russian citizenship have circulated for years. In 2016, the SBU stated that it had found no evidence supporting the claim. The mayor has also faced allegations of embezzling public funds, which he has denied.
During the war, Trukhanov avoided openly criticizing Zelensky, though he opposed certain initiatives—such as the renaming of streets and removal of monuments linked to imperial Russia. Odesa, whose architecture and culture were largely shaped during that era, remains full of such symbols.
Zelensky’s actions against Trukhanov come amid rising tensions with the mayors of other major cities, including Kyiv and Kharkiv. The president and his allies accuse local authorities of inefficiency and failure to protect cities from Russian attacks, while the mayors themselves see the moves as an attempt to consolidate power in the president’s hands and weaken potential rivals ahead of future elections, which Zelensky says will take place after the war ends.
“Our president has been in power for six years, and only now has he suddenly discovered that Trukhanov supposedly holds Russian citizenship. This looks more like political retribution than a sign of democracy,” said Oleksii Potapskyi, head of the Odesa branch of the European Solidarity party, in comments to a local outlet.
Earlier this year, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko accused Zelensky of abusing wartime powers to interfere with the work of the city council. Around the same time, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council froze the bank accounts of former president Petro Poroshenko—whom Zelensky defeated in the 2019 election—without bringing formal charges.
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At the end of September, a petition appeared on the president’s website calling for Trukhanov to be stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship. The required 25,000 signatures for its consideration were gathered in a short time.
In recent days, Volodymyr Zelensky openly criticized the Odesa mayor, saying that efforts to restore electricity in the city and surrounding areas after Russian attacks had been unsatisfactory and that “local authorities have made many mistakes.”
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) published a document resembling a Russian passport bearing Hennadiy Trukhanov’s name and photograph. According to the agency, the document was issued on December 15, 2015, and is valid for ten years.
Although the revocation of citizenship effectively removes Trukhanov from office, he said he would continue to perform his duties as mayor until the city council formally dismisses him. Central authorities have not clarified whether they intend to expel him from the country—and if so, where he would be sent.
That evening, citing “security issues” that he said remained unresolved, Zelensky announced the creation of a military administration in Odesa and promised to appoint its head soon. Ukrainian human rights and civil society groups have long expressed concern that the central government is using military administrations to consolidate power, including in areas unrelated to national defense.
“The revocation of Trukhanov’s citizenship and the creation of a military administration in Odesa is an open signal to every mayor: everyone is being watched, and when the time comes, they’ll get to each one of us,” Petro Poroshenko party MP Oleksii Honcharenko wrote on social media.