On Thursday, February 8, a tragic incident took place in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, as reported by law enforcement sources. According to preliminary data, unknown persons opened fire on the car in which the deputy mayor was traveling, using an unidentified weapon. As a result of this attack, the man died on the spot.
The deceased, Vitaly Zhuravlyov, also known as a member of the Batkivshchyna party, held the position of deputy mayor of Nikopol since September 2021. Deserving of respect in the city environment, Zhuravlyov was previously noted for his activities as the head of the Nikopol Department for Combating Organized Crime.
The Prosecutor General's Office has started a pre-trial investigation on the fact of premeditated murder in accordance with Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The proceedings are carried out under the leadership of the Dnipropetrovsk regional prosecutor's office, and the perpetrators face a prison sentence of seven to 15 years.
This case is not the only one in the country where public order is threatened. In Kyiv, for example, another criminal incident recently occurred: an intoxicated man opened fire with a traumatic weapon from the window of his apartment. He was suspected of committing a crime, and the investigation continues to consider this case.
Communication with Russia
According to local Telegram channels, before his political career, the deceased worked in the ranks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Vitaly Zhuravlyov's declarations state that his father and mother-in-law are Russian citizens. And in the income documents for 2019, which are not currently publicly available, the man, according to preliminary information, declared that his father and mother-in-law owned a lot of real estate in the Russian Federation.
It is also reported that according to the declaration of 2020, the father of the deceased kept 925 thousand rubles in cash.
On the network, local residents assume that the reason for the murder was the conflict between the deputy mayor and a local group, which has been ongoing since 2017.
