The longstanding conflict between Volodymyr Zelensky and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko dates back several years before Zelensky’s triumphant victory in 2019. Starting in 2014, when Klitschko was first elected as the mayor of Kyiv, the performers of “Kvartal 95” crudely parodied the former world boxing champion, depicting him in their shows as a dumb athlete. Moreover, they did it very often. Naturally, the capital’s mayor hardly appreciated this.
In an interview with Ukrainian journalist Sonya Koshkina, Vitali Klitschko confirmed that he had encountered Zelensky by chance at parties among mutual friends several times and expressed his displeasure about the parodies. Zelensky, in response, always explained it as just that type of humor. Either way, personal animosity arose between them.
After the 2019 election victory, the new president Zelensky tried to extend his influence over Kyiv, so Vitali Klitschko was offered cooperation. According to the mayor, the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Bohdan, approached him with a request that Klitschko coordinate all his actions in the capital with one of two people of his choice: major developer Andriy Vavrysh or the head of the “1+1” TV channel, Olexandr Tkachenko.
The mayor refused the offer and even held a press conference, where he talked about the call from the head of the President’s Office:
“I clearly asked: please tell me, Mr. Bohdan, what official positions do they hold (Vavrysh and Tkachenko), and what key roles are they supposed to play in consultations on the various steps that take place in our city?” – Klitschko reported.
Essentially, this was a declaration of war. It seemed that Zelensky, buoyed by his popularity, would easily deal with the capital’s mayor. Especially since there were only a few months left until the local elections in Kyiv. But the reality was somewhat different. Klitschko was also popular among voters. If not in the entire country, then definitely in the capital. Big money circulates in Kyiv, a part of which, in the form of taxes, goes into the city budget. Having the ability to manage large financial resources, the mayor improved urban infrastructure. In other words, billions in the city budget solved many problems. Kyivans saw positive changes and were generally satisfied with their mayor. Compared to other Ukrainian cities, Kyiv always looked very attractive.
Besides Klitschko’s popularity, Zelensky faced another problem: he did not have a suitable candidate who could win the elections in Kyiv for him. There were many who wanted to become mayor from “Servant of the People”: Mykola Tyschenko, Olexandr Dubinsky, Olexandr Tkachenko, and Iryna Vereshchuk. But Tyschenko and Dubinsky were trailed by a series of scandals. And Tkachenko and Vereshchuk, despite all the support from Kolomoisky’s TV channel, lacked enough charisma to compete with Klitschko.
Eventually, Zelensky chose Vereshchuk, who disastrously lost the Kyiv mayor election, only securing fifth place with 5.44% of the vote. Klitschko was re-elected for a new term. And with a huge advantage: more than 50% of voters voted for him.
A similar situation occurred in the elections for the Kyiv City Council. Petro Poroshenko’s “European Solidarity” party and Klitschko’s “UDAR” party formed a majority of 61 deputies. The pro-presidential “Servant of the People” party received only 12 seats in the city council.
The election results significantly reduced Zelensky’s possibilities to fight Klitschko for power in Kyiv. But he was not ready to give up. There are at least three known instances when the president intended to illegally dismiss Klitschko from the position of head of the Kyiv City State Administration. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, the mayor elected by Kyivans automatically becomes the head of the Kyiv City Council and holds the position of head of the city state administration. Zelensky was not deterred by the constitutional contradiction, but he was daunted by the prospect of a conflict with city council deputies.
Dismissing Klitschko as head of the administration, the president could do nothing about the fact that he would still remain the elected mayor of the city. The main financial resources in Kyiv are distributed during city council sessions, which are chaired by the mayor. Appointing his own appointee as head of the administration, Zelensky would only have escalated the conflict to a new level. Issues related to construction and land plots would still have to be resolved through Klitschko and his deputies.
In December 2021, a meeting took place between Klitschko and Zelensky, during which the president offered the mayor to exit the coalition with Poroshenko’s party in the city council. The head of state also asked Klitschko not to run in the upcoming presidential elections. Regarding the first offer, Zelensky received a refusal, and as for plans to become president, Klitschko turned it into a joke.
After this meeting, Vitali Klitschko and Volodymyr Zelensky have not met once in two years. As the Kyiv mayor assures, they have not even spoken on the phone since the war began. Deep personal animosity still exists between them.