From a Failed “Maidan” to Attacks on Critical Infrastructure? Uman City Hall Appealed to the SBU Over Actions by Ally of MP Yatsenko

In Uman, a chain of events is unfolding that raises increasing questions among security experts and city authorities. Following unsuccessful attempts to organize a street riot against the city leadership, the city's critical infrastructure has come under a series of strikes. A particular resonance was caused by the fact that, a day before the Russian attack on the new backup heating branch, it was publicly and in detail inquired about by assistants to Member of Parliament Anton Yatsenko for the first time in a long while. The mayor of the city, Iryna Pletnyeva, has officially sent a request to the Security Service of Ukraine to check this incident for signs of subversive activity.

As StopKor previously detailed in the material with the headline: “Maidan” by preview: how a protest appeared in Uman that MP Yatsenko predicted in advance, even last autumn a large-scale pressure campaign on the city head Iryna Pletnyeva unfolded in the city. The attempt to create a massive street protest, which the deputy publicly announced personally, gathered only about a hundred people and quickly lost any momentum.

The organizers of the so-called “cardboard Maidan,” as investigators from Stop Corruption TV established, were people from the deputy’s circle — in particular the head of his initiative group and a volunteer assistant Valentyn Khitruk, as well as the deputy’s staff assistant Rostyslav Abramovskyi.

However, later the political confrontation unexpectedly shifted to a completely different plane.

Visit to the session: the only question that interested the deputy’s associates.

On Friday, 30 October 2026 of the year, at the 106-th ordinary session of the Uman City Council, for the first time in a long time appeared the deputy Anton Yatsenko’s assistants — Roman Kravchenko and Valentyn Khitruk. As noted in the city mayor’s official appeal, although tens of important life questions of the community were being considered, the deputy’s people were interested in only one draft decision — No. 8: granting the municipal utility company “Umanwarm-Heat-Combined” permission to enter into a heat sale agreement with PO SP “Uman horticultural combine.”

As captured on the video recording of the plenary session, Roman Kravchenko persistently and meticulously questioned the leadership of the heat and energy utilities about the cost of heat from cogeneration plants of the combine, the mechanism of transportation and distribution of energy.

To Kravchenko’s direct question about the economic feasibility of the project, the utilities clearly emphasized: “First and foremost, this is heat supply security. We cannot be left without heat. This is an alternative.”

After the fifth question, the chair urged the deputy’s assistant to follow the parliamentary regulations and submit his requests in writing.

Fatal blow and a leak of 500 cubic meters of hot water.

And the next day, in the evening of 31 October 2026 of the year, at the same facility another strike was delivered. As a result of a drone attack, there was a direct hit on the heat main line connecting the cogeneration capacities of the greenhouse complex with the main boiler of the municipal utility company “Umanwarm-Heat-Combined.” This line was exactly the newly built backup branch intended to guarantee the heating season for the community in case of blackouts or enemy strikes.

As a result of the damage, nearly 500 cubic meters of hot water leaked, and the steady heating season flow was put at real risk. Moreover, at the beginning of the week the city already faced a new attack by Russian drones targeting critical infrastructure facilities, including the central boiler.

Appeal to the SBU: coincidence of circumstances or gathering of intelligence data?

Such an odd sequence of events forced the city authorities to turn to law enforcement agencies. 4 November 2026 year, Uman mayor Iryna Pletnyeva signed an official appeal addressed to acting Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Poklad (outgoing No. 7843/01/01-35).

In the document the city authorities ask the SBU:

Carefully investigate the circumstances of the sudden appearance of the deputy’s assistants at the session exactly during the discussion of the alternative heat network.

Determine whether there is a possible connection between gathering information at the plenary session and the subsequent targeted drone strike on the same facility the very next day.

Provide a legal assessment of the actions of the specified persons regarding the possible signs of reconnaissance-subversive or other illegal activity aimed at state security and Ukraine’s critical infrastructure (Article 17 of the Constitution of Ukraine, Law “On Critical Infrastructure”).

The mayoralty separately emphasizes that in a full-scale war such coincidences in time and purpose look extremely threatening. Of course, by themselves, the chronology is not a legal proof of direct adjustment or treason, and only counterintelligence officers of the SBU can decide this matter. However, does such a “coincidence of circumstances” leave too many questions?

StopCor continues to monitor the development of the situation around Uman and awaits an official reaction from the security services and from MP Yatsenko himself.

As a reminder, previously StopCor investigated the circumstances of the legal dispute around 97 million hryvnias of the Obuhiv community, drawing attention to apartment valuations, court decisions, and questions about the legality of multi-million coin collection.