President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has dismissed the Odesa region’s Governor Maksym Stepanov and appointed First Deputy Governor Serhii Paraschenko as the acting governor, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
Paraschenko, 47, graduated from the Ukrainian National Academy of Interior Affairs with a degree in law in 2005. He was elected to the Odesa regional council in 2010 and 2015. He headed the Poroshenko Bloc Solidarity faction in the regional council. He was appointed as the first deputy governor of the Odesa region on March 11, 2019.
As the CFTS portal reported, an earlier presidential decree dated April 6 removed Stepanov from the post of governor of the Odesa regional and appointed Paraschenko as the deputy governor.
However, Stepanov told a press briefing at the time that he would not leave the post of governor because the presidential decree was illegal.
Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman announced on April 9 that the Cabinet of Ministers had received a recommendation to dismiss Stepanov from the post of governor of the Odesa region from Poroshenko March 11, 2019.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved a draft presidential decree on dismissal of Stepanov on April 10.
