The Irpin City Council has officially terminated the powers of Oleksandr Markushyn as mayor. A total of 28 deputies voted in favor of a motion of no confidence and early dismissal. The council also voted to appoint Council Secretary Anzhela Makeieva as acting mayor.
Markushyn has not been performing mayoral duties for approximately six months, having been suspended by a decision of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv as part of an ongoing State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) case.
The political crisis in Irpin has persisted since April 2024, when the city’s entire administrative team — including all deputy mayors, most council members, and heads of municipal enterprises — publicly accused Markushyn of involvement in a scheme to inflate and withdraw unjustified salaries.
Ahead of the council session, Markushyn called on residents to attend a rally in his support. However, the call was largely ignored by locals. Only a few dozen former city hall employees, who were dismissed alongside Markushyn, showed up — less than 0.0001% of the city’s population.
The political deadlock was ultimately resolved when parties represented in the city council formed a two-thirds majority coalition that voted to express no confidence and terminate Markushyn’s powers as mayor.
Markushyn himself is seen as the cause of this crisis, having lost all communication with the council. Without cooperation between the mayor and the deputies, the city is doomed to stagnation, unable to recover or develop.
Markushyn betrayed his own team and failed to deliver any tangible results for the city. During his tenure, not a single major project was completed. Everything visible in Irpin today — especially to new residents — was built between 2015 and 2020, under the leadership of Volodymyr Karpliuk and the New Faces team. Markushyn revived the old corrupt schemes that had plagued Irpin for decades before Karpliuk’s reforms: inflated public salaries (up to ₴200,000), selective financial assistance, “ghost” employees in public institutions, overpriced municipal contracts, and kickbacks from local businesses — all of which are draining the city’s budget.
Markushyn is currently a figure in dozens of criminal investigations conducted by the National Police, the Bucha District Prosecutor’s Office, and the SBI. These cases involve allegations of abductions, embezzlement of public funds, payroll fraud, illegal manipulation of development fees, and money laundering through affiliated companies. Notably, public support for Markushyn has vanished — residents no longer attend court hearings or rallies in his defense.