Sumy Oblast governor fired amid military ceremony controversy
The Ukrainian government approved the dismissal of Volodymyr Artiukh as the Sumy Oblast governor and of Artem Lysohor as the Luhansk Oblast governor, said Taras Melnychuk, the government's representative in parliament, on April 15.
Artiukh's dismissal comes amid accusations that the governor planned a military awards ceremony in Sumy on April 13, the same day that Russia launched a deadly missile attack that killed 35 people and injured around 120.
Artiukh has confirmed the plans for the event but denied responsibility for initiating it.
Melnychuk did not immediately comment on the reasons for the dismissals. Oleksii Kharchenko will take over as the Luhansk Oblast governor, and Oleh Hryhorov was appointed governor of Sumy Oblast.
Artiukh has faced mounting scrutiny after Konotop Mayor Artem Semenikhin accused him of inadvertently creating a pretense for a Russian attack. The mayor argued that the governor's plan to hand out awards to soldiers of the 117th Brigade on April 13 posed an undue risk to both civilian residents and military personnel.
Russia reportedly deployed cluster munitions in heavily populated areas in an attack that was broadly denounced as a war crime.
Members of the Sumy Regional Administration Council submitted a motion of no-confidence against the governor on April 14.
Artiukh, a 66-year-old soldier and politician, was born in Amur Oblast in the USSR's Far East and previously served as the deputy head of the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces. He had led the administration of Sumy Oblast, a northeastern region at the border with Russia, since April 2023.
Lysohor, 41, was born in Dnipropetrovsk (today's Dnipro) and is a former police officer and military service member. Like Artiukh, he has served as governor since April 2023, administrating eastern Luhansk Oblast, which is currently almost entirely occupied by Russian forces.
Asami Terajima
