Former Sumy mayor Oleksandr Lysenko and former director of the city infrastructure department Oleksandr Zhurba are charged with accepting a bribe of UAH 2.13 million.

Oleksandr Lysenko was the mayor of Sumy from 2014 to 2024. The events charged relate to the final years of his tenure in that office. At the time, Oleksandr Zhurba held the position of director of the same city's infrastructure department.

In early October 2023, the NABU and the SAPO caught the defendants red-handed while they were receiving the final tranche of UAH 1.4 million. They were promptly served with a notice of suspicion of receiving an unlawful benefit.

The investigation established that Lysenko and Zhurba extorted money from the owner of a company engaged in garbage removal. The bribe was intended for the setting of an economically justified tariff for household waste management. Had the bribe not been paid, artificial obstacles would have been created for the company in its business activities.

However, the company's owner reported the extortion to law enforcement, so the defendants' subsequent criminal actions were documented by the investigation. The bribe was handed over in three parts. The first two, amounting to UAH 700,000, were handed over even before the executive committee of the Sumy City Council adopted a decision in the entrepreneur's favor.

Later, after the executive committee approved the new garbage-removal tariff, Lysenko met with the businessman and asked him to hand Zhurba the remainder of the bribe — that is, a further UAH 1,430,000. However, as soon as Zhurba received the final part of the bribe, he was detained.

More details about the commission of the offense are available in this video.

The actions of both defendants were classified under Article 368(4) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In March 2025, Oleksandr Lysenko was mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which he repeatedly reported on his own social media. Despite his service, he takes part in the court hearings by videoconference.