Kharkiv Regional Governor Ihor Baluta has asked the Ukrainian parliament to relieve Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes of his duties ahead of time and order a mayoral election in the city.

"Speaking on behalf of the overwhelming majority of Kharkiv residents, I am asking you to support Draft Resolution No. 4431, dated August 6, 2014, of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine 'On the early termination of the powers of the Kharkiv City Council' and order early elections of Kharkiv City Council members and Kharkiv's city head," Baluta said in his message to the Verkhovna Rada.

According to Baluta, he has been receiving scores of complaints from Kharkiv residents and public organizations, which are outraged at the Kharkiv city legislature's decision to award the title of Honorary Citizen of Kharkiv to two Russian citizens.

"I am speaking about this outrageous and shameful decision to grant the Honorary Citizen of Kharkiv title to [Pavel] Fuks and [Alexander] Shishkin - citizens of the country that is effectively waging an undeclared war against Ukraine. The situation concerning P. Fuks, a businessman whose taxes help finance the aggressor's army, is largely a moral issue. However, the decision to grant this title to A. Shishkin, a member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, who bears personal responsibility for the annexation of Crimea, is a blatantly anti-Ukrainian measure and shows signs of high treason," the governor said.

"Bearing all of the above said in mind, I remain convinced that the Kharkiv City Council, which adopted these provocative pro-Russian decisions, has no right to exist," Baluta said.

On August 6, the Kharkiv city legislature decided to award the title of Honorary Citizen of Kharkiv to eight people, among them two Russian citizens - chairman of the board of directors of MOS CITY GROUP Pavel Fuks and member of the Federation Council's defense and security committee Alexander Shishkin, who represents the state authorities of the Khabarovsk Territory at the Federation Council. The legislature voted 73-14 with three abstentions in favor of this decision, which, however, met with fierce opposition from the Batkivschyna faction.

On the same day, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov ordered the Verkhovna Rada to adopt a resolution concerning the Kharkiv legislature's decision to award this title to Shishkin.

The Kharkiv prosecutor prepared a lawsuit asking a local court to overturn the city council's decision with regard to Shishkin.