Secretary of Odesa City Council becomes interim head of the city: what is known about Ihor Koval
Kyiv • UNN
Ihor Koval, secretary of the Odesa City Council, assumed the duties of Odesa City Mayor on October 16, 2025. This happened after Hennadiy Trukhanov's Ukrainian citizenship was terminated.
In Odesa, Ihor Koval, the city council's secretary, has become the acting head of the city council. This was reported by UNN with reference to the order published on the Odesa City Council website.
Details
In accordance with part two of Article 42 of the Law of Ukraine "On Local Self-Government in Ukraine", I assume the duties of the Odesa City Mayor from October 16, 2025.
Who is Ihor Koval?
He was born on February 27, 1955, in Odesa. He graduated from secondary school No. 3 (Mariinsky Gymnasium) in 1972. In 1978, he graduated from the history faculty of Odesa State University named after Mechnikov with a degree in "Historian, teacher of history and social studies."
In 1982, he defended his Ph.D. thesis at Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State University. He also defended his doctoral thesis and received a Doctor of Political Sciences degree, and then became a professor.
He worked as the secretary of the university's Komsomol committee and, at the same time, as an assistant professor in the department of modern and contemporary history. He was also the secretary of the Odesa regional Komsomol committee for ideological issues, a senior lecturer, an associate professor in the department of modern and contemporary history, and served as deputy dean of the history faculty.
In 2010, he was elected rector of Odesa National University. Before that, he was an advisor to the head of the Odesa Regional State Administration (1998-2004).
In 2020, he became the secretary of the Odesa City Council of the ninth convocation.
Recall
On October 14, the citizenship of Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov was terminated based on materials from the Security Service of Ukraine.
In response, Trukhanov stated that he does not have Russian citizenship. He added that he is preparing lawsuits for Ukrainian courts and the European Court of Human Rights.
UNN also reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy established the Odesa City Military Administration and appointed Serhiy Lysak as its head, who previously headed the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration.