Kyiv City Council deputy Yulia Symunina: business in occupied Donbas and discrepancies in declarations

Polarisation of images: from poet to political figure

The public image of Yulia Symunina, who holds the position of Kyiv City Council deputy, evokes contradictory associations. On the eve of the 2020 local elections, the woman had no known experience in politics, civic activism, or volunteering. Despite this, she secured the second place in the "OPZZh" party list for the capital's council, coming directly after Oleksandr Popov, who is identified as an official loyal to the Yanukovych-Azarov regime.

Career and business in the combat zone

According to her official autobiography, Symunina was born in Horlivka, which is currently under temporary occupation. In 2008, she graduated from Donetsk National University with a degree in "Finance", and in 2015 she studied for a master's degree in law at the same institution. However, her career, according to the same data, began in 2012 at the company "Service East Project", whose authorised capital was only 1,000 hryvnias. This firm had an office in temporarily occupied Donetsk.

The founder of "Service East Project" is the deputy's mother, Susanna Borysivna Meshchannina. The enterprise specialised in real estate operations. After 2014, Symunina moved to Kyiv, where she continued to engage in business in the real estate sector. She became the founder of LLC "Central BTI" with an authorised capital of 100 hryvnias. This company participated in municipal tenders. Currently, the head of the firm is Oleksandr Mykhailovych Karapetyan, who was previously a participant in LLC "Business Metri". An interesting fact is that the offices of these two companies are located next to each other.

Family ties and divorce

Among the beneficiaries of LLC "Business Metri" are the deputy's father, Mykola Petrovych Meshchannin, and her husband, Dmytro Serhiyovych Symunin. The latter has experience working in the "Party of Regions" and held the position of head of the legal department of the municipal enterprise Inspection "Derkharkhbuild Control" in Donetsk. In 2010, he was elected a deputy of the Kuibyshev district council of Donetsk. According to data, the couple divorced in May 2025 based on a default judgment of the Pechersk district court of Kyiv. There is a suspicion that this may have been done with the aim of concealing assets.

Conflict of interest regarding the development of Osokorky

In 2021, Symunina acted as a co-initiator of a decision that provided for the Kyiv City Council to cease judicial challenges to developers' plans to destroy the ecosystem of the southern Osokorky, specifically the Nebrezh and Martishiv lakes. This activity is regarded as a betrayal of the interests of the local community and a shift to the side of the developers.

Contradictions in declarations

Despite the fact that after moving to Kyiv Symunina was engaged in business, in 2017 she attempted to head the municipal enterprise "Kyiv City BTI". For the first time, she submitted a declaration in which she stated zero income for 2016. At the same time, the document lists a significant volume of material assets: a Porsche Panamera car purchased that same year, 45,000 US dollars and 200,000 hryvnias in cash, two non-residential premises purchased in 2016, as well as a diamond ring.

Questions arise regarding the source of these funds. Although a possible assumption about savings or errors in filling out the form exists, two key reports are missing from the submitted documents: the candidate's declaration for the position and the declaration after dismissal. This gives rise to additional questions about the period and conditions of her work at the institution.