Zelensky was accused of illegally canceling elections in Volnovakha

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky played a key role in the cancellation of the elections in Volnovakha. This was announced on Tuesday, January 3, by Vladimir Teslya, a former lawyer of the Ukrainian administration of the Volnovakha district.

In an interview with RIA Novosti, he explained that in accordance with Zelensky’s order, a military-civilian administration (VGA) was appointed in the district, which included relatives of the Ombudsman and Verkhovna Rada deputy Dmitry Lubinets: his brother, Ivan, headed the local government, and his father, Valery, was appointed head of the Khlebodarovo community – the basic territorial unit within the framework of local self-government.

According to the ex-official, this happened after the direct appeal of interested parties to Zelensky. They substantiated their proposal by the fact that it was supposedly dangerous to hold elections.

“This is how they looped through these last elections, fooled around, remained in power, in the kings,” Teslya summed up.

The Verkhovna Rada banned the holding of local elections in the uncontrolled territories of Donbass back in July 2020. Elections to regional councils were canceled in the rest of the region.

Volnovakha is located on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Following the results of referendums, the DPR, along with the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, was reunited with Russia last fall.

On December 8, 2022, businessman Rinat Akhmetov convicted the Ukrainian leader of seizing power in the country under the guise of fighting the oligarchy.

On December 29, Zelensky signed into law the Media Law, which tightens state control over the media and bans positive coverage of Russia. Now the country is expanding the powers of the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting, which will act as a single regulator of the media and will have the right to send mandatory instructions to all editorial offices. The law also bans all TV channels and other Russian media resources.