Small protest targets financial watchdog chief Pronin outside parliament
The rally is taking place under the walls of the Verkhovna Rada Committees Building in the center of Kyiv, its participants are demanding a report from the current head of the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine, Filip Pronin, on his activities as head of the Poltava Regional Administration, which he held in 2023-24.
According to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, the rally is attended by about three dozen people who claim to have come from different settlements of the Poltava region and want to express their position on the allegedly unsatisfactory performance of Pronin in his past and current positions, related, in particular, to the construction of fortifications in the Donetsk region. Among them are relatives of active servicemen and those killed during the full-scale war.
They are holding banners reading "Who will answer for the failure of the fortifications?" "Why are my brothers in unfinished trenches?" "Stolen millions - ruined lives at the front," "Pronin, resign before you are arrested," "Where are the 200 million for fortifications?" "Where is the promised defense?" "The front is waiting - officials are silent" and others. The participants in the rally are protesting against the misappropriation of state funds that could have been used to build fortifications and purchase drones, as well as to protect servicemen and civilian infrastructure.
Pronin is expected to attend a meeting of the temporary investigative commission investigating corruption in the energy sector, which will be held on Wednesday at the parliamentary committee building, near which the rally is taking place.
As reported, earlier the Eurosolidarity faction demanded Pronin’s dismissal from his current position, and MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Holos faction) stated that in 2024 the Poltava regional administration signed contracts for over UAH 370 million for the construction of fortifications in the Donetsk region, but instead of fortifications, "decorations" were erected and at least UAH 200 million was embezzled through fictitious schemes.
The Verkhovna Rada summoned Pronin to a plenary session because of this, and he denied the accusations. "Allegedly, due to the imitation of the construction of the fortification, we lost positions and now the enemy is occupying these positions. This is unreliable information. These positions are held by the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Pronin said during a speech in parliament in early September, also rejecting the accusation that the construction was carried out at inflated prices.
