Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced on April 27 that he had fired Volodymyr Slonchak, the deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, for allegedly attacking a police officer during a routine traffic stop the night before.
Slonchak’s altercation with police is just the latest scandal to engulf the city government this month. Earlier, on April 14, the office of Mykola Povoroznyk, first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, was searched by the police after he was accused of soliciting a bribe from a construction company.
Povoroznyk denied the accusations, saying that he had never instructed anyone to demand a bribe. Klitschko called for a fair trial for his deputy.
If the case involving Povoroznyk remains murky, the events that led to Slonchak’s firing were clearer. According to a video published in Kyiv Operativ, a Facebook group that shares information on crimes and illegal activity in the Ukrainian capital, Slonchak and local lawmaker Lyudmyla Kostenko were driving in the city center at night on April 26 when they were stopped by the police on Lva Tolstoho Street.
According to the video, Slonchak, who was in the passenger seat, began verbally abusing the four police officers, saying that they will soon be fired for stopping someone of his high status. When the police officers didn’t react, Slonchak exited the car and allegedly began to attack one of them.
Slonchak was eventually detained. The police officer required medical attention.
The Kyiv Post reached out to Slonchak for comment, but did not receive a response.
In a video published by Kyiv Operativ, a Facebook group specializing in crime and corruption in the Ukrainian capital, Volodymyr Slonchak, the deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, allegedly assaults a police officer during a routine traffic stop. (Kyiv Operativ)
Police arrest Volodymyr Slonchak after he allegedly attacked a police officer during a routine traffic stop. Slonchak was the passenger in the car, which was driven by local lawmaker Lyudmyla Kostenko. (Kyiv Operativ)
The National Police issued an official statement saying that the man who attacked a police officer during the night was now under investigation for assaulting an officer. If convicted, he could face up to five years behind bars.
According to the police, officers stopped the car because its headlights were off. Both the driver and the passenger were also suspected of being intoxicated prior to the assault.
Before his firing, Slonchak had worked at the Kyiv City State Administration for 15 years. He rose up through the ranks from a specialist in one of Kyiv’s project departments to deputy chief of the city in 2018.
Kostenko was elected to the Kyiv City Council in 2014 on the party ticket of Solidarity, led nationwide by then-President Petro Poroshenko. She is deputy head of the city’s budget committee.
She stands accused of driving under the influence and will face an administrative fine.
