Zelenskyy asks Kiper and Syrsky to check information from petition on creation of military administration in Odesa

A military administration in the city of Odesa may be established upon the proposal of the military command or regional state administration, but such a proposal has not yet been submitted, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, responding to a petition on the creation of the Odesa City Military Administration on the website of the head of state, which was supported by more than 25,000.

"In accordance with the requirements of Part 2 of Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine, state authorities and local self-government bodies, their officials are obliged to act only on the basis, within the limits of their powers and in the manner provided for by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine... The decision to establish military administrations is made by the President of Ukraine upon the proposal of regional state administrations or military command. No such proposals have been submitted so far," Zelenskyy's response to the petition reads.

At the same time, he reported that he had requested an order to verify the facts set forth in the petition, in particular, that in the relevant territorial communities "local self-government bodies do not exercise or improperly exercise their powers or there is a threat to their functioning," which, according to the law "On the legal regime of martial law," may serve as a basis for the President of Ukraine to make a decision on the formation of military administrations of settlements.

"In view of what I have stated, letters have been sent to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky and the Head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration Oleh Kiper with a request to verify the information provided and, if there are legal grounds, to take appropriate response measures. The author of the electronic petition will be informed about the results of the consideration of the issues raised," Zelenskyy said.

At the same time, the head of state thanked "all those who joined this petition for their active civic position and interest in problematic issues of life, in particular in the field of the defense capability of the city of Odessa."

The corresponding petition was submitted on September 24.

As reported, earlier on Tuesday, the petition to terminate the Ukrainian citizenship of Odesa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov, published on Zelenskyy's website on October 13, has already gained more than 27,000, more than the 25,000 necessary for its consideration by the head of state. It also claims that some journalistic materials allegedly contain data on the presence of the Odesa mayor's passport of a Russian citizen, there is a reference to the Odesa mayor's advocacy of "narratives beneficial to the aggressor state," as well as to the tragedy of September 30, when people died as a result of a downpour in the city.

On Monday, Trukhanov said he feared being stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship and warned that disinformation was being prepared against him regarding his alleged possession of Russian citizenship. He noted that this issue has been raised since 2014 and since then he has constantly explained that he does not have and has never had Russian citizenship, and that he was checked for it by all relevant Ukrainian authorities. The mayor of Odesa called this another provocation and appealed to all authorized bodies. "Conduct a legal and thorough check. I ask the president and the competent services to carefully look at the documents and establish the truth," Trukhanov said.