Almost all deputies from the presidential party “Servant of the People” in the Kakhovka City Council in Kherson region resigned early – Center for Investigative Journalism

19 October prematurely terminated the powers of Kakhovka City Council deputy Zhanna Kyselova, elected from the presidential party “Servant of the People.” As of today, of the seven elected members of this party on the city council, only one deputy’s powers remain — Oksana Antonova. Recently the Kherson media outlet “MOST” spread information about the early termination of Antonova’s deputy mandate, but that is not true.

This was reported by the Center for Investigative Journalism citing its own sources.

19 October Vitaliy Nemerets, head of the Kakhovka City Military Administration of Kherson region, prematurely terminated the powers of the Kakhovka City Council deputy from the presidential party “Servant of the People,” the 58-year-old Zhanna Kyselova. The basis for this was the deputy’s own statement.

Kyselova was also removed from the permanent deputy commission on education, culture, healthcare, youth and tourism of the Kakhovka City Council.

Zhanna Kyselova headed the local newspaper “Kakhovska Zorya.” Russian occupiers twice illegally deprived her of her liberty and tortured her. The newspaper stopped publishing on 24 February 2022 year — immediately after the occupation of the Kakhovka city community.

Currently, of the seven Kakhovka City Council deputies elected from the “Servant of the People” party, only one — Oksana Antonova — still retains her powers. 23 October the Kherson media outlet “MOST” published information about the early termination of Antonova’s deputy powers. However, that information is not true.

The publication “MOST” referred to the declaration published by Oksana Antonova in connection with a dismissal. As the CIJ found out, the deputy submitted that declaration by mistake.

“Oksana Antonova did not submit a statement on the early termination of the powers of a deputy of the Kakhovka City Council. This is the first I’ve heard that she no longer has a mandate. That information is not true,” commented CIJ Irina Honcharova, secretary of the Kakhovka City Council.

Oksana Antonova confirmed to the CIJ that she did not submit a statement on the early termination of her powers as a Kakhovka City Council deputy, but she intends to do so in the near future.

“I don’t plan to be a deputy — there’s no point. I’m abroad. I thought and thought and decided that it’s all unnecessary. I’m surprised how quickly it all works: only yesterday I filed the declaration, I didn’t expect everyone to find out so fast,” said Oksana Antonova.

As the CIJ reported in May 2026 year in its investigation, Oksana Antonova had long not been submitting her declarations. She explained that she allegedly did not have electronic keys, so she did not do it.

“Also, I simply hadn’t gotten around to the declarations. Yesterday, finally, I did,” said Oksana Antonova.

Oksana Antonova ran for the Kakhovka City Council while working as an administrative activity manager at the local branch of LLC “AT Cargill.” But she is better known to Kakhovka residents for the family business — the Antonov family ran stores selling live flowers.

After leaving temporarily occupied Kakhovka, Oksana Antonova settled in Poland and works there — at the company “Swiat Slodkosci sp o o o.”

If Oksana Antonova prematurely terminates her powers as a Kakhovka City Council deputy, there will be no elected representative left there from the presidential party “Servant of the People.” In addition, after that she will, under Ukrainian law, have to submit a declaration after dismissal again — since the declaration she already submitted is clearly incorrect and cannot be accepted.

As of today 12 deputies of the Kakhovka City Council have already prematurely resigned their powers: from the “Servant of the People” party — Olena Harkava, Andrii Pryyma, Oksana Radchenko, Oleg Barabash, Maksym Surin, Zhanna Kyselova; from the party “European Solidarity” — Mykhailo Honchar; from the OPZZh party — Olga Radionova; from the “Proposition” party — Oleksandra Arkusha; from the Green Party of Ukraine — Nataliia Kapustina and Nataliia Moskalenko; from Ihor Kolykhaiev’s party “We Live Here!” — Viktor Zubkov.

The two main reasons for this were the prolonged ban on crossing the border during the state of martial law for local council deputies, imposed by the Ukrainian government, and the deputies’ unwillingness to declare their incomes.