Anti-corruption prosecutors in Ukraine said this week that they have arrested and detained the Ukrainian mayor of Odesa, Hennadii Trukhanov, as part of an ongoing probe into corruption in the country. The development is also part of Kyiv’s efforts to meet the recommendations of the European Union as it seeks to join the bloc.
On Thursday, Ukraine’s anti-corruption prosecutors said they had detained Trukhanov as part of its investigation into alleged corruption in the country. Trukhanov was elected as the mayor of Odesa in 2014 and has been under investigation since 2017 for allegations of embezzlement. Trukhanov has denied the accusations.
In a post on the Telegram messaging platform, the prosecutors said that Trukhanov was to be detained for 60 days over his failure to pay over $830,000 in bail. Trukhanov is facing charges of embezzling over $2.4 million. Trukhanov was acquitted in 2018, but a probe into the purchase of an administrative building in an old industrial factory in Odesa reopened in 2021.
Ukraine has prioritized fighting corruption as it looks to become a member of the EU. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also launched a crackdown on graft despite Russia’s continued waging of war in Ukraine since invading in February last year.
Meanwhile, the United States has dismissed the allegations Russia has made, saying that Washington was responsible for the recent drone attack on the Kremlin this week. White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby on Thursday said that the US was not involved in the drone attack in any way, adding that Washington was not even aware of the details of the incident.
“Obviously it’s a ludicrous claim. The United States had nothing to do with this,” said Kirby on CNN. “We don’t even know exactly what happened here, but I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever.”
Kirby also added that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s comments alleging US involvement in the drone attack were lies.
Moscow initially accused Ukraine of being behind the drone attack, saying that Kyiv was trying to target Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Kyiv has said Putin is using the drone attack to motivate Russians to fight in the war.