Poltava journalists have been trying for almost half a year to get a response from the city’s acting mayor Kateryna Yamshchykova and the Cirty Council’s first deputy chair Valeriy Parkhomenko regarding a proposed meeting with the latter, reports Nadia Kucher, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Poltava oblast.

Journalists have been working with the IMI hub Mediabaza Poltava since September 2025 to arrange a meeting with Valeriy Parkhomenko. They have questions regarding his use of working hours and City Council staff, the events for children he has held during air raids, and his efforts to pay for social media content promoting himself. Journalists also want to know where the money for this self-promotion comes from. Parkhomenko has previously stated that he plans to run for mayor.

Kolo chief editor Tetyana Tsirulnik said that the last interaction with Parkhomenko took place in October 2024 during a press conference where announced the start of his election campaign for Poltava mayor.

“Since then, he has avoided making comments in every possible way: both by phone and by replying to written queries. We have tried to get a comment from him in person after a staff meeting, asking him where the money he spends on Facebook advertising comes from; the conversation lasted 15 seconds as he was literally running to his office, locking the door behind him,” Tsirulnik said.

The team of the news website Poltavshchyna has also complained about Parkhomenko’s reluctance to speak with them. Journalist Anastasia Nedohorska said media workers were advised at a press conference in late August 2025 to address all questions about Parkhomenko directly to him. The news outlet has repeatedly contacted the City Council press office with a request for a meeting, but received no response.

“Our news outlet wrote to the City Council press office right away, asking them to organise an event so we could ask Parkhomenko questions, we have asked several times about the progress, but to no avail,” Nedohorska said.

She added that when her colleague asked Parkhomenko a question about his electric car charging in the City Council courtyard on his personal Facebook page, “he was blocked.”

IMI representative Nadia Kucher said that official requests for a meeting with Parkhomenko and the city’s top officials have remained unanswered.

“We sent an official letter to Valeriy Parkhomenko, but were completely ignored by him, there was no reply to the letter. Neither does he answer phone calls, and the reception office suggests we resolve everything through the Poltava City Council press office. Unofficially, the City Council has informed us verbally that Parkhomenko would meet with us ‘when he is ready,’” said Nadia Kucher.

The acting mayor of Poltava, Poltava City Council secretary Kateryna Yamshchykova also ignored the official letter asking her to facilitate a meeting between the official and journalists.

In May 2025, Poltava journalists reported unsatisfactory communication by the City Council and claimed that there is an unnamed and unauthorized person in the Council who instructs the staff on how to communicate with media professionals and what to discuss.

In November 2024, the news outlets Poltavshchyna and Zmist complained that the acting mayor Kateryna Yamshchykova and the mayor’s first deputies had forbidden the directors of Poltava’s municipal companies, in particular those subordinate to the Housing and Communal Services Department of the City Council, to talk with journalists. The news outlets also reported that information queries from the media remained unanswered. Poltavshchyna has complained that the city government had advised their reporters to search for data on the money spent on road works, roof repairs, playground and sports ground maintenance, and purchasing utilities equipment by themselves.