Leaders of municipalities called on the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to protect the rights of citizens to local self-government, democracy and justice in an appeal of the Board of the Association of Ukrainian Cities (translation of the appeal).

The Association of Ukrainian Cities provides examples of pressure on the leaders of small municipalities as early as January 2025 and refers to previous appeals on violations of legislation, procedures and fairness in the conduct of procedural actions by law enforcement and judicial authorities against local self-government representatives.

‘Systemic pressure on local self-government weakens municipalities and Ukraine as a whole, and therefore leads to a weakening of the country in the war against the aggressor, complicating the path to our Victory.

Local self-government is the foundation of democracy and an important part of defending Ukraine's independence during a full-scale invasion. Strong local self-government is what makes us different from putin's Russia,’ - the Appeal states.

The Association of Ukrainian Cities calls on the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine to unite the efforts of all public authorities in the fight against russia for Ukraine, for every municipality, for every citizen!

To read the Ukrainian version of the article, please click here.