Internal political tensions in Ukraine have been rising in anticipation of a cease-fire that might lead to elections. This week, they burst into the open with a striking public rebuke of President Volodymyr Zelensky by the mayor of Kyiv.
In a video address issued on Wednesday, the mayor of the country’s capital, Vitali Klitschko, accused the president’s office of abusing the powers of martial law, the latest salvo in a continuing dispute over the use of military rule during the nearly three-year war against Russia.
Mr. Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxing champion who has built a political base in the capital, has engaged in a low-boil feud with Mr. Zelensky for several years, chafing at what he views as the president’s attempt to usurp the authority of the city.
In his statement, Mr. Klitschko accused Mr. Zelensky of appointing a military administrator for the city who he said had tried to assume the powers of the elected City Council.
The administrator, Tymur Tkachenko, was appointed as the martial law chief of Kyiv on Dec. 31. He was part of a round of appointments in regions and cities across Ukraine that began in 2022 and were intended to bolster defenses by giving authority to officers in the military chain of command over local governments.
Mr. Klitschko said Mr. Tkachenko had no military background, which he said “indicates political motives for this appointment.” He accused Mr. Tkachenko of “interference in and blocking of economic activity” in the capital by delaying decisions on infrastructure and construction unrelated to the war.
“While you, as the supreme commander in chief, are focused on the war and the defense of Ukraine, people around you are tirelessly engaged in political intrigue,” Mr. Klitschko said in a video addressed to Mr. Zelensky.
Mr. Tkachenko issued a combative response to the accusations, saying that he did not see any scope for constructive dialogue with Mr. Klitschko and that the military administration would therefore “solve the city’s problems and help Kyiv residents.”
The feud has escalated at an awkward time for Ukraine, as it waits to see whether President Trump continues American support to Kyiv or tries to forge cease-fire terms with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that could be favorable to the Kremlin.
Under martial law introduced when Russian forces invaded in February 2022, frontline towns and cities in Ukraine are governed solely by military administrations. Many of those farther from the front line have both civilian and military authorities.
Civil society groups in Ukraine have long been raising concerns that the central government uses military administrators to secure a stronger grip on authority, even on issues not directly related to defense. The move comes against a backdrop of a preinvasion setback for Mr. Zelensky’s political party in local elections that left opposition politicians in control of most cities and regional governments, including in Kyiv.
In the last local elections before the invasion, the president’s party, Servant of the People, did not win a single mayoral position in Ukraine. Yet today under martial law, one-third of the heads of local and regional military administrations appointed under martial law in Ukraine have ties to Servant of the People.
The expectation is that if a cease-fire is achieved, Ukraine would lift martial law and hold elections; the last presidential election occurred in 2019, when Mr. Zelensky took office. Mr. Klitschko is considered a potential competitor to Mr. Zelensky in a presidential election, though he has not declared an intention to run.
Mr. Klitschko has been mayor of Kyiv since 2014. In his video criticizing Mr. Tkachenko, the appointed military administrator, he accused him of failing to review documents on “orders to restore buildings, compensate owners for damaged facilities, restore infrastructure and many other things.”
He added that the main tasks of the military administration should concern drafting men to serve in the army, civil defense, public safety and the protection of critical infrastructure.
The conflict in Kyiv comes amid criticism from opposition lawmakers that Mr. Zelensky has used martial law powers to enhance the authority of a close circle of advisers, as well as to clear out political opponents in local government.
In 2022 after the full-scale invasion, for example, the elected mayor of the city of Chernihiv, north of the capital, said the presidential office was trying to remove him and appointing a military administrator in his place.
The tension between that mayor, Vladyslav Atroshenko, and the Zelensky administration predates the war, political analysts say, when the mayor decided to collaborate with Mr. Klitschko’s opposition political party, UDAR, which means “Punch.” Mr. Atroshenko was later stripped of his powers as mayor in a court decision in a case accusing him of conflicts of interest.
In December last year, the acting mayor of Chernihiv, Oleksandr Lomako, resigned and also posted a video address to Mr. Zelensky accusing the military appointee of abusing powers. He said the military administrator had taken the city hostage.
Elections can only be held after martial law is lifted.
Analysts say that the largest problem in the relationships between military and civil administrations is the duplication of powers. It was not always the case.
Initially, when Mr. Zelensky created the Kyiv City Military Administration in February 2022, Mr. Klitschko as mayor automatically became its head. But later, to “improve the capital’s defense,” Mr. Zelensky said, he split the two roles, with Mr. Klitschko staying on as mayor, and a general, Mykola Zhernov, taking charge of the parallel military administration office for the city.
Members of Mr. Klitschko’s political party serving on the City Council regularly raise questions about the appropriateness of operating a separate military administration in the city after the Russians were pushed back from the capital nearly three years ago and the city became relatively well protected from missile strikes with air defenses.
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