Honcharenko Oleksandr Vasyliovych

Ukrainian politician, manager, and Mayor of Kramatorsk (since November 2020)

Born on August 11, 1974, in the village of Bilenke, Donetsk region. Graduated from Donetsk National University with a degree in Finance and Credit. Before being elected mayor, he worked for a long time in the commercial sector, notably holding the position of Marketing and Sales Director at the large machine-building enterprise Energomashexspetstal, and also served as a city council deputy for ten years (2010–2020).

Leadership of a frontline city and controversies

With the start of the full-scale invasion, he headed the Kramatorsk City Military Administration (CMA). As head of the CMA, Honcharenko is responsible for the functioning of one of the key frontline centers of Donbas under constant threat.

The most public resonance involving the mayor concerned the appropriateness of using budget funds during martial law.

The community was outraged by a large tender for the purchase of plane tree and rose seedlings for city beautification worth over half a million hryvnias. When local residents criticized these expenses during wartime, Honcharenko responded sharply and sometimes with profanity to dissatisfied commentators on Facebook, which turned into a separate reputational scandal.

Investigative journalism and media publications accused the city head and his relatives of questionable acquisition of significant financial assets and foreign property after the start of the large-scale war. Additionally, Bihus.Info investigators earlier documented his several-week trip abroad, which the mayor himself explained as a vacation to visit his daughter in Germany.