Just six months ago, the heads of Kyiv region’s law enforcement agencies were happily taking photos with Markushyn and shaking his hand, despite knowing full well who he was and what he represented. So, what has changed? “My Kyiv Region” investigated.
The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv decided to hold the Mayor of Irpin, Oleksandr Markushyn, in custody until March 22. The court set bail at 30 million UAH as an alternative. Thus ended Friday, January 24, for the head of the Irpin community—a day that began with rumors about a suspicion notice from the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) accusing him of organizing illegal border crossings for draft dodgers. The rumors were quickly confirmed. Among those who left Ukraine under Markushyn’s arrangement was his godfather, Serhii Rosstalnyi, the main contractor for Irpin’s reconstruction. In the summer of 2024, Rosstalnyi fled permanently to the U.S., taking reconstruction funds with him. Markushyn and Rosstalnyi had repeatedly left Ukraine as “volunteers” under the “Shlyakh” system, but according to the State Customs Service, they never declared any humanitarian cargo upon returning to Ukraine. This strongly suggests one thing—money was being siphoned out.
In the case of organizing illegal border crossings, Markushyn has been charged under Part 2 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (organizing the illegal transfer of persons across the state border), which carries a penalty of up to three years of restriction of freedom and a ban on holding certain positions or engaging in specific activities for up to three years.
But this was only the prologue. It turns out that the SBI is conducting 19 (!) investigations where Markushyn’s name appears. Some of these cases date back to 2022, when the Mayor of Irpin became a global media star and a symbol of a mayor who didn’t abandon his city during active hostilities. However, while Irpin’s residents were staring in horror at their destroyed homes, looking to the state and city hall for help, the mayor was vacationing in Italy in late August 2022. Markushyn claims he went to visit his son, for whom he is the sole guardian, and brought back two drones. However, the prosecutor insists that Markushyn provided no evidence of any volunteer work abroad. “The SBI ‘fabricated’ the suspicion in two days,” Markushyn complained in court. “I believe this case is politically motivated and orchestrated by my opponents.” Politically motivated and orchestrated… Every official caught red-handed says the same thing!
Whether Markushyn or his friends can find the 30 million UAH for bail is irrelevant. The key point is that the Mayor of Irpin has reached the point of no return. Over the course of 2024, he transformed from a potential political star into the most scandalous mayor in the Kyiv region. He quarreled with his former allies in the “New Faces” party, then with the city council deputies, then with his team members, and ultimately ended up isolated. Or rather, left with a small circle of close associates with bad reputations and pro-Russian ties. For example, the mayor’s adviser, Valeriy Stepanyuk, reposted Russian war correspondents in an official Telegram channel. Markushyn himself has been accused of acquiring land through controlled companies from a collaborator in Mariupol.
Next come the consequences of Mayor Markushyn’s downfall for the community. At the end of the year, the city council failed to adopt the budget due to a conflict with the mayor. “My Kyiv Region” has covered the reasons for this disgrace in detail. Given the new circumstances, the deputies must now address the situation independently, as Irpin is among the Kyiv region’s communities that have yet to approve a 2025 budget. Recently, acting Head of Kyiv Regional Military Administration, Mykola Kalashnyk, urged deputies to vote on budgets immediately.
In Irpin, the problem is that there is both the mayor’s project and the deputies’ project. Now there is the additional problem of who will act as mayor while Markushyn is in custody and who will sign official documents. City council secretary Anzhela Makeyeva must urgently convene the deputies to prevent a power vacuum in the city. The responsibility now lies with the deputies—if they cooperate with the mayor’s deputies, residents will breathe a sigh of relief at the mayor’s absence. “Maxim’s gone? Good riddance.” If they fail, the situation will escalate into a power struggle between the city council and Markushyn’s loyalists. After all, if their boss goes to jail, they will lose the financial streams they’ve been profiting from and won’t give up without a fight.
There’s another important nuance to this story: the mayor of Irpin was on friendly terms with high-ranking officials in Kyiv, the regional administration, and law enforcement leaders in the Kyiv region, who were photographed and socialized with him. They knew about the accusations against Markushyn for fraud, forgery, and his godfather Rosstalnyi’s escape. None of this was a secret.
This month, Mykola Kalashnyk inspected Irpin’s reconstruction. In all the photos, he is standing next to Markushyn. In short, it’s like the old anecdote about the deception on a wedding night: “Halya, you said you were a virgin. – Did I say that? Oh, how awkward this turned out to be.”
In reality, what happened to the Mayor of Irpin is not just the result of him treading a slippery slope, losing his team, losing the support of deputies, and ending up in a pre-trial detention center. It is the result of prolonged deafness and blindness from everyone who should have responded to numerous press publications, citizen appeals, and complaints from foreign donors.