Volodymyr Vasylovych Mykolaienko (Ukrainian: Володимир Васильович Миколаєнко; born on 8 April 1960), is a Ukrainian politician who served as the mayor of Kherson from 2015 to 2020.
On 25 May 2014, at the extraordinary elections, Mykolaienko was elected the mayor of Kherson.
He was re-elected as the mayor of Kherson in the next local elections after two rounds (25 October and 15 November 2015, respectively).
Biography
He is a participant of the Euromaidan, after which on 28 May 2014, he was elected mayor of Kherson.[1]
During the events related to the annexation of Crimea and military aggression in the East of Ukraine, Kherson became a strategic temporary border city. During the protests in the East of Ukraine, he expressed his tough position on preventing provocations in Kherson and the impossibility of seizing the city by separatist groups.[2]
We will not meet with bread and salt either local separatists or visiting actors of the separate genre. If necessary, we will shoot to kill. Everyone has been warned and understands the gravity of the situation.
—Mykolaienko, as Mayor of Kherson, expressing his tough position regarding the prevention of provocations in Kherson and the impossibility of the city being seized by terrorist groups (2015)[3]
In 2015, he was elected mayor, gaining 24.81% of the votes in the 1st round (20,903 votes), in the second round - 67.78% of the votes (37,532 votes).
On 24 February 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mykolaienko joined a crowd of hundreds of Kherson residents outside the military enlistment office demanding to be given weapons.[4]
In April 2022, Mykolaienko's wife stated that he had been abducted by Russian occupiers in Kherson and his current whereabouts are unknown.[5]
Income
In 2017, Mykolaienko submitted an electronic declaration for 2016.[6]