Ukrainian parliamentarian Serhiy Kivalov withdrew from the Odesa mayor election because of the criminal cases which were opened against him over election fraud, Head of Odesa Regional State Administration Mikheil Saakashvili has said,

"Kivalov withdrew his candidacy not under his goodwill and not because of the [grenade] blast [at his house], probably organized by him, but due to real criminal cases on falsifications, which the region's prosecutors prepared against his group, and about which he is well enough informed from the source who was still working at the prosecutor's office, who beforehand surrendered all details to him. The fact that he withdrew himself from the election race convinces me more that these cases should be brought to an end very end even quicker," he wrote on his Facebook account.

Kivalov said he was withdrawing from the election to ensure the safety of the public.

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you all the circumstances, which made me to take such decision I did not want to. And the reason isn't the RGD-5 grenade thrown into my yard today [on October 9] and not the grenade fired into the windows of my bedroom, and not because of me. I can say one thing: I was clearly demonstrated that if I don't free the way – May 2 will be repeated in Odesa," Kivalov said.

As reported, on Friday evening unknown person threw a grenade into the yard of Kivalov's house. Nobody was injured as a result of the blast. Previously, another grenade exploded near the politician's residence, the so-called Harry Potter Castle on Odesa beach.