“This is due to the fact that the investigation of the case regarding the death of people in Odesa is determined by the Main Investigative Department of the National Police”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“Because the Main Investigative Department of the National Police is responsible for the investigation… (the logic is) that the investigation should be carried out by the Main Investigative Department, not the Odesa Oblast administration,” Yuriy Kostyakov, the prosecutor in the case, explained in a comment to Radio Liberty.
In the comment, the prosecutor also noted that Trukhanov received suspicion as a stateless person.
The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv has already chosen a preventive measure for Hanna Pozdniakova, the deputy mayor of Odesa for the activities of executive bodies, in the form of night house arrest until December 28, 2025, in the case of official negligence that led to the death of people. She denies the accusations and said she will appeal this decision.
The court also took Leonid Hrebenyuk, director of the department of urban economy of the Odesa City Council, into custody, satisfying the request of the prosecutor’s office. He was also given bail in the amount of over three million hryvnias. The defense has announced its intention to appeal the decision.
Today, the court must also choose preventive measures for several more Odessa officials, in particular, the former mayor of Odessa, Gennadiy Trukhanov.
On October 29, the Odesa Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported that Gennadiy Trukhanov received a report of suspicion of official negligence, namely improper performance of official duties, which caused the death of people (Part 3, Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Trukhanov stated that he was “surprised” to receive the suspicion.
According to the investigation, the exhibitor improperly performed his official duties and did not ensure the full functioning of engineering networks in the city. According to the prosecutor’s office, being aware of this systematic problem, the suspect did not take measures to timely repair the drainage system, drainage and drainage systems, and on the day of the tragedy, September 30, 2025, the mayor did not organize proper notification and informing the population about the threat of an emergency situation.
Read also: Odesa: the duties of the mayor will be performed by the secretary of the city council, Ihor Koval
After the tragedy, Gennadiy Trukhanov wrote that in seven hours on September 30, almost two months’ worth of precipitation fell in the city, and “no storm sewer is capable of withstanding such a load.”
The Odesa Prosecutor’s Office reported that on October 28, eight officials of the local self-government body and subordinate utility companies were informed of suspicion of official negligence, which led to the death of people on September 30, 2025.
The prosecutor’s office clarified that it is about the deputy mayor, the director of the city economy department, who should have been properly responsible for the maintenance of housing and communal facilities, the deputy mayor of Odesa and the director of the municipal security department (due to improper control over alerting and informing the population about the threat), as well as the director, the head of the structural division, and two chief engineers of the Municipal Roads utility company, who, according to the statement law enforcement officers, did not ensure proper control over the inspection, cleaning and repair of drainage sewers (Part 3 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Nine people, including a child, died in Odesa and Odesa district due to heavy rains.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that he instructed the Minister of Community and Territorial Development to “conduct a full inspection of work in Odesa.”
On October 14, the SBU published data on Trukhanov’s Russian citizenship, on the basis of which his Ukrainian citizenship was terminated. Trukhanov denies having Russian citizenship and announced his intention to contest the deprivation of his Ukrainian citizenship.