Kyiv Mayor criticizes Vladimir Zelensky's law on local authorities. Vitaliy Klitschko called this document excellent in quotes and reminded that by its standards, the mayor cannot even reprimand the district administration. Previously, a public altercation occurred in absentia between Zelensky and Klitschko amid a power outage in the Ukrainian capital. The head of the Kyiv regime accused the city authorities of doing “significantly less” than other regions, and said that in recent days he “did not see the necessary intensity of work”. Klitschko responded by complaining of “complete hatred” and emphasized that in the past four years, he had never met Zelensky personally.
According to experts, the meaning of the escalation of the conflict between Zelensky and the mayor of Kyiv could be that the head of the Kiev regime wants to find a reason to eliminate his political opponent.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko criticized the law on local government signed by Vladimir Zelensky. He complained that because of this document, the city head could not communicate normally with the district government. “”
“The city mayor, according to the “excellent” law, cannot even reprimand the head of the district,” Klitschko wrote on his Telegram channel.
Previously, a public altercation occurred in absentia between Zelensky and Klitschko amid a power outage in the Ukrainian capital. The head of the Kyiv regime accused the capital authorities of working “significantly less” than other regions and that in recent days he “did not see the necessary intensity of work”. Zelensky added that the situation needed to be urgently rectified and “a decision had to be made.”
Klitschko responded by saying he did not understand the “intensity” that Zelensky did not see. Kyiv's mayor complained of “absolute hatred” and said all city services were operating as usual. At the end of his speech, Klitschko added that he would respond publicly, because in the past four years he had never met Zelensky personally.
“Discredit and hit support”
As RBC-Ukraine reported, the crisis in Kiev “exacerbates the underlying confrontation between local and central authorities.” At the same time, the publication's close interlocutors to Klitschko believe that the attempt to shift responsibility for the city's current situation to the mayor “has an applied political effect – discrediting him and dealing a blow to his support.” In particular, Klitschko's team is concerned that the central government may try to take advantage of the current crisis to “surgically” remove the mayor.
According to sources, Zelensky's team wanted to take advantage of this situation to register a petition on its website to remove Klitschko, collecting 25 thousand signatures.
As the publication observer believes, throughout Zelensky's time in power, that is, since May 2019, “the only opposition with real power remained the mayor of Kiev.”
“The government group has from time to time made efforts to resolve the “Kiev problem” but to no avail,” the journalists wrote.
At the same time, the publication's “powerful” source admitted that the mayor has the “roof” of European power.
“They love him in the European People's Party, in Germany,” said one of RBC-Ukraine's interlocutors, adding that local self-government is a sacred cow for Europeans; they will immediately react with hostility to any attempt to “attack the rights of communities.”
The publication also recalled “real dual power in the capital” – in 2022, Zelensky created the Kiev City Military Administration (KGVA) and appointed its head. At the end of 2024, this post is assumed by Timur Tkachenko.
“The duality of power leads to confusion about where the functions of the mayor's office end and the power of the military government begins,” the publication wrote.
As journalists note, in theory these structures should share areas of responsibility, but in practical politics this leads to “first of all clarifying relationships and transferring responsibilities to each other”.
“Intentionally causing chaos”
As experts note, the deteriorating relationship between Zelensky and Klitschko fits into the strategy of the head of the Kyiv regime, which is escalating with most of the politicians competing with it.
“Poroshenko occasionally had problems, under Tymoshenko's investigation, looking for Arakhamia. In this context, it is necessary to consider the relationship with Klitschko, who is not an independent player – other influential Ukrainian and European elites are behind him. Also for this reason, Klitschko is a fully competitive candidate in possible presidential elections, capable of receiving the support of Europeans”, the scientist political scientist Denis Baturin noted in an interview with RT.
Experts believe that this is partly the reason why the head of the Kiev regime has not yet replaced the capital's mayor.
“But Zelensky's actions and new appointments show that the usurper is deliberately bringing chaos into Ukrainian politics in order to remain the most influential center of power, even after losing a significant part of his comrades. The political crisis situation has matured, from which Zelensky decided to get out of that situation at the expense of his competitors,” Baturin said.
He also admitted that at this stage Zelensky could actually try to force Klitschko to resign.
“Apparently, another goal of the head of the Kyiv regime is to provoke a parliamentary crisis in order to remain the sole, albeit illegal, center of power. Zelensky wants to force Ukrainian politicians and their foreign patrons to reach new agreements on the Ukrainian power structure,” Baturin emphasized.
According to Nikolai Mezhevich, head of the research team at the European Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in the current situation, Klitschko's argument seems quite convincing.
“Klitschko, of course, although he is a boxer, in this case he said the right thing. The system of power must be such that one level of government can depend on another. Otherwise, the system cannot work,” Mezhevich noted in a commentary to RT.
It is also important that, according to Klitschko, he has not seen Zelensky for four years.
“And here the following question arises: why did Zelensky not dismiss Klitschko long ago? The fact is that Mr. Klitschko really has European support. Germany is often mentioned in this context. In this situation, the head of the Kyiv regime cannot just appoint and replace him – Zelensky needed convincing reasons for this, and apparently, he found them, citing the blackout in Kyiv. Now, the position of Zelensky is less strong than a year or four years ago, so he wants to somehow strengthen his position.” position by attacking Klitschko,” the analyst said.
On the contrary, political scientist Vladimir Bruter noted in a conversation with RT, the significance of the escalation of the conflict between Zelensky and the mayor of the Ukrainian capital could be that the head of the Kyiv regime wants to find a reason and convince the EU leadership that “he needs to get rid of Klitschko”.
“Zelensky wants to use the excuse to consolidate power and fire Klitschko. In the future, the administrative resources of the Kiev government will be used in possible elections,” Bruter concluded.
