Ex-Mayor Of Ukraine City Becomes A Traitor, Accused Of Collaborating With Russia: Report

The former mayor of a city in Ukraine has been accused of voluntarily working with the Russian military and has allegedly agreed to serve as the "head" of an occupied territory, according to a report.

Ukrainian officials have launched an investigation into ex-mayor Volodymyr Demchenko on suspicion of collaborating with the Russian army. Demchenko served as the mayor of the city of Kupyansk in Kharkiv Oblast from 2010 to 2015, according to a report published by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

The investigators said Demchenko agreed to a proposal wherein he would assume the pseudo-position of the head of occupied Petropavlivka, which the Russian army now calls the Petropavlovsk United Territorial Community of the Kupyan District of the Kharkiv Region.

In addition to serving as the head of a Russian-occupied territory, Demchenko also previously organized mass rallies and brigades of titushky, hired mercenaries who often posed as street hooligans during the administration of exiled Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. The brigades are expected to be sent to Kyiv and Kharkiv for unknown purposes, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

The pre-trial investigation into Demchenko is currently being conducted by officers at the Security Service of Ukraine's Kharkiv branch.

Demchenko is not the first Ukrainian official to be accused of collaborating with Russian forces amid the war. In early February, Mayor of Kupyansk Gennadiy Matsegora admitted that he handed over his city to the Russian military to avoid "casualties and destruction."

"Today at 7:30 a.m. the commander of a Russian battalion called to propose negotiations. If declined, the city would be stormed 'with all the consequences.' I decided to take part in the talks to avoid casualties and destruction in the city," he said in a video address.

"We discussed the actions of the military, which would include entering the city, ensuring order, and reassuring residents. They convinced me that this would not affect the life of the city; schools, kindergartens, hospitals, grocery stores, and transportation would continue to run and there will be order in the city."

Matsehora was later indicted for high treason and encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine in his capacity as a state official. He fled to Russia but was arrested by Ukrainian officials, per a Telegram post from Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration head Oleh Syniehubov.