Klitschko meets with Giuliani to complain about Zelensky

Kyiv Mayor Vitali
Klitschko said he met with Rudy Giuliani, a close adviser to U.S. President
Trump, on July 31 to discuss Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s attempts
to remove him from office. “Today there is the threat that Kyiv residents will
be deprived of their right to elect a person who has certain responsibilities,”
Klitschko told the Ukrinform news agency the next day. “The methods of (former
President Viktor) Yanukovych are being mobilized, in which the mayor is pushed
aside and a person will be appointed from above. If someone has the desire to
become the Kyiv city head, please, there are elections. That’s the single
democratic direction where the post of Kyiv city head can be achieved. Not an
appointment from above.”

Zenon Zawada: Traditionally, the person elected
by the public to serve as Kyiv mayor is also appointed to the post of Kyiv city
administration head, which has more authority. This occurred when Klitschko was
elected in 2015, but now the Zelensky administration wants to appoint its own
official to serve as city administration head, widely believed to be 1+1
television network general director Oleksandr Tkachenko. Klitschko has said he
doesn’t want to split his authority as mayor with anyone else.

Klitschko is already showing that he can damage Zelensky’s reputation
with this conflict. He has a compelling argument, which is that he is the
publicly elected mayor. And he knows that anyone nominated by Zelensky as
administration head won’t have the ability to defeat him in the local elections
to be held next year. Instead, there would be a daily nasty conflict between
Klitschko and whoever is appointed, with both blaming the other for failures.
It’s hard to see what will be the outcome, but Klitshcko is showing that he’s
just as fierce a fighter in the political ring, as in the boxing ring.