In an open letter, more than a hundred political and public figures, businessmen, and other professionals ask President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to revoke his decision of terminating the Ukrainian citizenship of businessman and head of the Dnipro Territorial Defense Hennadiy Korban of Ukrainian citizneship.
The letter has been signed by Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, Dnipro mayor Boris Filatov, mayors of other cities. Signatories say this step is unconstitutional.
“Now more than ever, we need the unity of government and society, the unity of all Ukrainians for the sake of Ukraine’s Victory in the holy War of Independence.
And everything that interferes with this – political games, settlement of personal accounts, everything petty and inconsistent with the law and state interest – must be rejected or at least postponed,” the letter states.
On 22 July, the head of the Dnipro Territorial Defense Korban had his passport taken away by border guards when attempting to reenter Ukraine. He was informed that his citizenship was annulled.
Earlier, on 19 July, information about Zelenskyy’s secret decree to annul the Ukrainian citizenship of several important persons was published by Ukrainian media. It included oligarch Igor Kolomoiskyi, businessman and head of the Dnipro Territorial Defense Hennadiy Korban, lawmaker from the pro-Russian party Opposition Bloc for Life Vadym Rabinovych, and Servant of the People MP Ihor Vasylkovskyi.
Kolomoiskyi, who hails from the city of Dnipro, initially supported Zelenskyy’s bid for citizenship. Korban is a close friend of Dnipro mayor Filatov.
The formal reason for the termination of the citizenship of all mentioned persons was them voluntarily becoming citizens of another country. According to the law on citizenship, such actions are grounds for termination of Ukrainian citizenship.
