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KYIV — It wasn’t a Russian missile that reduced the elegant 19th-century Zelenskiy mansion in downtown Kyiv to rubble; a Ukrainian developer demolished it to build yet another high rise.
Activists who tried to stop the bulldozer on July 19 to preserve the city’s heritage said they were beaten back by heavies.
A wooden tablet next to the ruins, where a mustard-colored classical façade once stood, reads: “This building was destroyed at the initiative of Vitaly Klitschko.”
To the outside world, former world heavyweight boxing champion Klitschko — nicknamed Dr. Ironfist — is one of the most identifiable and laconically affable faces of Ukraine’s resistance against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s murderous assault. To a growing number of Kyivans, however, he’s letting them down as city mayor, a post he has occupied for 10 years.
Many complaints focus on his failure to stop ruthless developers from leveling the city’s heritage — destroying the Zelenskiy mansion (unconnected to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy) and other historical buildings — and on his administration’s alleged involvement with major infrastructure problems like cracking metro tunnels.
“The mayor is the director of the city, its top manager. A top manager is always responsible for everything that happens in the company. Klitschko does not share responsibility for what is happening in his city,” Kyiv activist Dmytro Perov, who has been fighting against the demolition of historical buildings for more than eight years, told POLITICO.
Klitschko hits back
Klitschko denies allegations that his administrations makes life easy for the property tycoons and describes the criticism as a political vendetta. Indeed, the master pugilist insists he is the one pushed up against the ropes with no legal room to maneuver over the wave of construction.
“My first profession is not even an athlete, but a Kyiv city guide. I know how important it is to preserve cultural heritage, and I do everything I can,” Klitschko told POLITICO.
“It is easy to just say, as a mayor, I bear responsibility for everything in the city. On one hand, yes, but there are nuances. The city does not issue permits for construction, and has no influence on the developers who own historical buildings,” Klitschko added.
According to Klitschko, the blame lies with central authorities. Over his decade at the helm, he said the city proposed a bill that would that would allow the city of Kyiv to confiscate historical buildings from owners who neglected them, or at least fine them.
“The demolition of the Zelenskiy mansion is a cynical destruction of a historical building by its owner. Unfortunately, the city does not have any legal instruments to force building owners to reconstruct them. We cannot put a police officer next to each of them. This is private property,” Klitschko explained.
So, does that mean it’s no one’s fault? Everyone is pointing the finger at someone else.
Overall, 23 historical buildings were destroyed in Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion, and only two of them by Russian missiles. Ukrainian construction developers can take responsibility for the rest, said Hanna Bondar, a Ukrainian lawmaker.
Klitschko blames the construction businesses, central government and law enforcement for manipulating and sabotaging his administration’s work.
Central authorities retort the blame lies with Klitschko, citing the inability of the mayor’s office to prepare legal documentation that would allow for protection of the buildings. Meanwhile, the construction continues unabated in Kyiv as the war rages on.
‘A photo with Klitschko doesn’t mean we’re friends’
“As a mayor, Klitschko has a complete misunderstanding of the time, wrong priorities, and lack of city policy. He falls for the requests of people who dubiously received funds, has no understanding of the challenges of the future and even the present,” Kyiv council lawmaker Ksenia Semenova told POLITICO. Semenova is regular opponent of Klitschko, who fights developers in court.
Ukrainian journalists reported several times about Klitschko’s ties with high-profile developers, responsible for the construction of the city, claiming he not only brought people affiliated with them into the Kyiv council as members of his party but even flew on the same private jets with developers.
“This is a lie. I know many people in this city. But my relations with them are strictly professional. A photo with Klitschko does not mean we’re friends,” Klitschko said.
If a developer works for the city, constructs schools, reconstructs buildings and changes the city for the better, the city council cooperates with them, Klitschko added; If a developer acts like the owners of the Zelenskiy mansion, the city files a claim in court.
“We also signed a memorandum with the owners of the mansion, forcing them to restore the mansion. Now we’re working on a road map of reconstruction,” Klitschko said, claiming the city was not aware of the impending demolition.
Perov, the activist, argued one of the departments of Kyiv city council issued planning and architectural requirements for designs and construction from the Zelenskiy developers in June. The city claims a court forced its action, and that those specifications did not amount to official permission for demolition.
Metro crack up
The destruction of the Zelenskiy mansion is only the latest episode in a chain of problems mounting up since the start of the Russian invasion, and even before.
Earlier this year, Kyiv authorities had to close six metro stations that connected one of the most populated districts with the rest of the city after cracks appeared in tunnels, releasing ground water.
The metro director, a member of Klitschko’s party, was dropped from his post in March after Ukrainian journalists published an investigation into his illicit enrichment.
The acting director who took over was put under house arrest last week on suspicion of professional negligence. The tunnels had been well built but negligence over the course of the past 10 years led to cracks, Kyiv prosecutors said.
Kyiv’s city council hits back that mistakes were made during construction, under the previous administration. The council added that putting the acting metro chief under house arrest complicates the work of the whole subway system and potentially stalls the reconstruction of closed stations.
Kyiv faces problems above the surface too.
Some of the capital’s key bridges are neglected, but the mayor decided to build a new one that in no way solves city’s traffic problems, as it runs to a recreational island in the middle of the River Dnipro.
When asked about the logic for the new bridge construction during war, Klitschko said the project started before the invasion, and by the start of hostilities Kyiv had received the whole bridge, made from steel from the Azovstal mill, now destroyed by the Russians. So, he decided to ask for funds to finish it rather than let it rot.
“Recreational zones are important as a major stress relief during war. Furthermore, our wounded soldiers told me they need a place for outdoor rehabilitation … Guys asked for a place where they could go fishing and so on,” Klitschko said.
The argument over lack of space is questionable. Kyiv has more than 740 parks and squares and several dozen beaches on the Dnipro River.
The alternatives are worse
Klitschko acknowledges his performance as a mayor is not perfect, but says he has improved a lot in the city since he took over the office, increasing the budget to 70 billion hryvnia (€1.6 billion) from only 20 billion hryvnia, making the city more transparent, opening dozens of recreational zones, and fighting corruption.
However, the central government has been trying to undermine Kyivans’ trust in him, he argues.
“Someone has virtual elections on their mind,” Klitschko said.
Local elections were planned for 2025 in Ukraine but, as with all other elections, they are forbidden by the constitution during martial law. Klitschko was at one point one of the top competitors to Zelenskyy should he have decided to run for president, and he had a conflict with the presidential office on who should control the capital.
“Any kind of political ambitions nowadays are delirious! We should put all of that aside and unite or else we would lose the country,” he said.
Before the war, Klitschko was reelected two times by Kyivans and still enjoys one of the highest rankings of support in the country, even though this year the trust has started to ebb.
“Kyivans continue to vote for him because he actively plays on the fact that all the other alternatives are even worse. And he is well-known, he is stable. In 2020 he presented himself also as the only pro-Ukrainian and pro-European candidate against the pro-Russian ones,” Oleh Symoroz, a Kyiv activist and war veteran, told POLITICO.
For several years, Symoroz fought illegal construction in Kyiv. With the start of the Russian invasion, he joined the army to protect the city from the Russians.
“Klitschko claims powerful antagonists are trying to discredit him. In reality, he has a majority and stable votes in the city council. Even the antagonistic parties vote together with his political force on most of the issues, like positions on budget and land issues,” Symoroz said.
“Now with the introduction of martial law and the appearance of a Kyiv military administration, he claims all the executive powers were taken away from him, but in reality, Kyiv council still makes most of the decisions. And he appointed most of the officials, later caught in corrupt deals with developers,” the activist added.
Klitschko said without coordinating with the central government, his powers were limited. But he would still not allow developers to do whatever they want.
Symoroz, who lost both his legs in the war, now feels trapped in his apartment. Kyiv is far from an easy place for disabled people, but the closure of metro stations in his district made it almost impossible to move around.
“Kyivans are stuck in traffic for hours every day. It is so all painful for me. I fought against Russian occupiers. But sometimes it seems that our city is already occupied by people, who act against the city’s sake,” Symoroz complained.
