Galina Viktorovna Danilchenko (born 5 July 1964) is a Russian and Ukrainian accountant and politician who was installed by Russia as the acting mayor of

Melitopol Melitopol is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city ...

during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, following the kidnapping of Ivan Fedorov by the Russian military. She was a former member of the Melitopol City Council, elected in 2015, and became its secretary soon thereafter.

Biography

Danilchenko was born 5 July 1964 in Orlovo, a village in the Melitopol district. She studied at the She graduated from the

Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy (full name in ) is one of the oldest agrarian educational institutions in Moscow, Russia. It was founded on December 3, 1865. It is under the Supervisory of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture. It was nam ...

. She worked in a kindergarten for a few weeks and worked in a laboratory at a hydraulic tractor plant. After completing a specialization in economics and auditing, she worked as an accountant at a motor plant. In 2000, she began working as an accountant for Melitopol Plain Bearing Plant until 2015. She is now the director of the factory. The company is owned by Yevhen Balytskyi. Balitsky suggested that Danilchenko enter politics. Until 2015, she was a member of the

Party of Regions A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

. In 2015, she was elected to the Melitopol City Council as a member of the

Opposition Bloc The Opposition Bloc (, ) was a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine that was founded in 2014 by the merger of six parties that did not endorse Euromaidan. Legally, the party was created by renaming the lesser-known party "Leading Force".

and was appointed its secretary by Balytskyi soon thereafter. In 2021, Danylchenko was nominated to the position of director of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Contact Centre.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Danilchenko, former member of the City Council, was installed by the Russian occupation forces as acting mayor on 12 March 2022, the day after mayor Ivan Fedorov's abduction by the Russian military. At the same time she announced that the City Council was being abolished and replaced by a "committee of people's deputies". She urged city residents to accept "the new reality in order to start living in a new way as soon as possible." Danylchenko thanked the head of

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

Ramzan Kadyrov Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov (born 5 October 1976) is a Russian politician and current head of the Chechen Republic. He was formerly affiliated with the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Chechen independence movement, through his father who was the ...

, for

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and Humanitarian Logistics, logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homelessness, homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Th ...

. On 13 March 2022

Iryna Venediktova Iryna Valentynivna Venediktova (born 21 September 1978) is a Ukrainian politician, diplomat, lawyer, Doctor of the Science of Law, professor. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Swiss Confederation and the Principalit ...

Prosecutor General of Ukraine The Prosecutor General of Ukraine (also ''Procurator General''; , ) heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General (, or, before 2020, ). The prosecutor general is appointed and dismissed by th ...

, opened an investigation against Danilchenko for the crime of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

for attempting to set up an occupying government in Melitopol; the investigation was opened at the request of the Melitopol City Council. On the same day, Danylchenko announced that Russian TV channels would be broadcast in Melitopol, claiming that "a great deficit of trustworthy information being circulated" existed. According to the

Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( ; abbreviated as SBU [] or SSU) is the main Internal security, internal security agency of the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government. Its main duties include counter-intelligence activity and combati ...

(SBU) and

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, Danylchenko does not wield power as mayor of Melitopol, and is instead a front for

Yevgeny Balitsky Yevgeny Vitalyevich Balitsky (, ; born 10 December 1969) is a Russian and former Ukrainian politician, entrepreneur and former army officer who is currently serving as the governor of Zaporozhye Oblast, one of the Russian-occupied territories ...

, who she worked under prior to entering politics.

Sanctions

She was sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 in relation to the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

Personal life

Danilchenko lives in in the

Melitopol Raion Melitopol Raion () is one of the five raions (districts) of Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southern Ukraine. The administrative center of the region is Melitopol. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number ...

. She voted for

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriiovych Yushchenko (, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards Western world, the West, European Union, and N ...

but was not satisfied by his presidency. In 2017, she called

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

the worst president, and stated that she regretted voting for him.

Notes

References