Public inquiry: will the new regional police chief and prosecutor be able to restore order in the region controlled by Groysman's party

In October of this year, Vinnytsia region received a new head of the National Police and a new prosecutor. Both have never worked here and are therefore not connected to some local political elites. 

Apparently, they are still keeping an eye on the situation in the region. But the public in the region is gradually beginning to demand that those who are determined to restore order and curb corruption do so, UNN writes.

Law enforcement chessboard of Vinnytsia region

In October of this year, the heads of two key law enforcement agencies in Vinnytsia region changed. On October 12, Yuriy Parkhomenko was introduced as the head of the regional National Police. And on October 30, it became known that Oleksiy Khimchenko became the prosecutor of Vinnytsia region. 

Parkhomenko worked in various positions in Sumy region and in Kyiv. From the beginning of the full-scale invasion until his appointment to Vinnytsia region, he headed the Migration Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine.

Oleksii Khymchenko has worked in the Odesa Prosecutor's Office for almost his entire life, with a break for work in Kyiv. From September 2021 until his transfer to Vinnytsia region, he served as the First Deputy Head of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office.

The following detail is noteworthy: the previous head of the National Police of Vinnytsia region, Ivan Ishchenko, also came from Odesa region and was deputy head of the regional department of the National Police there.

Another point is that the appointment of the new heads of the Vinnytsia Regional Police and Regional Prosecutor's Office took place within a short time frame.

It was the same last time: Ishchenko was introduced on June 1, 2020, and the head of the prosecutor's office, Oleksandr Butovych, on July 1 of the same year.

And interestingly, all four of them were "Varangians" who had nothing to do with Vinnytsia region. 

Who is a warrior in the field

It's no secret that Vinnytsia region is, in fact, the fiefdom of the former Prime Minister of Ukraine and leader of his personal party, Volodymyr Groysman. 

During Volodymyr Borysovych's premiership, the Vinnytsia regional police was headed by his godfather Yuriy Pedos. 

And the regional prosecutor was allegedly also the former prime minister's godfather, Vyacheslav Sokolovyi, who in 2020 was elected to the Vinnytsia Regional Council from Groysman's Ukrainian Strategy and was elected its chairman. 

The media periodically accused Pedos of involvement in various scandals, including corruption, and of favoring the Moscow Patriarchate.

In February of this year, there was even information that Pedos was searched .

Sokolov was also criticized by the media for his possible involvement in corruption. In particular, it was reported that the prosecutor initiated the creation of so-called "charitable foundations" that served the leadership of law enforcement agencies. These funds were allegedly filled with money by entrepreneurs who worked without proper documents in the markets of Vinnytsia and Vinnytsia region.

According to local media, it was Zelenskyy's team's desire to break the Groysman clan's ties to law enforcement that led to the appointment of people from outside Vinnytsia region as heads of regional police and prosecutors in 2020. 

In this context, Oleksandr Butovych attracts attention. A man with a rather ambiguous reputation - when Butovych worked in the Kyiv region, he was accused of involvement in land carve-ups.

However, according to Vinnytsia journalists, it was during his tenure that the Vinnytsia regional prosecutor's office began investigating corruption schemes and opened several criminal proceedings against officials. 

In order to get rid of Butovych, representatives of the local political clan involved some civic activists. Also, according to media reports, "400 thousand dollars were to be paid in" for organizing a large-scale inspection of the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor's Office, which resulted in Butovych's dismissal .

The public is waiting

So far, the new chief police officer of Vinnytsia region and the new regional prosecutor have not made any loud statements or sudden moves.

Although the public of the region is already asking them to pay attention to certain possible abuses by representatives of Groysman's party. In particular, to the situation in the Luka-Meleshkivska community, where one company, with the assistance of the head of the community from Groysman's Ukrainian Strategy, has been using the water fund lands for free for many years in a row .

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of similar situations throughout the Vinnytsia region.

And at this stage, the key task of the new heads of the police and prosecutor's office is to pay attention to them and try to give them a legal assessment.