Oleksandr Symchyshyn, mayor of Khmelnytskyi, has been awarded the title of “Mayor of the Year (Large Cities)” in the 30th anniversary edition of the nationwide “Person of the Year 2025” program.
Symchyshyn has led Khmelnytskyi since 2015. He also serves as chairman of the Khmelnytskyi regional branch of the Association of Ukrainian Cities.
Supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces remains one of the key priorities for the Khmelnytskyi community amid the full-scale war. In recent years, the city has consistently ranked among the leaders in the volume of such assistance, according to various rankings. Local authorities also devote significant attention to veteran and social policies.
Based on the results for 2025, the Khmelnytskyi City Territorial Community took first place in the “Best Social Community” competition.
Transparency in governance remains a priority for city officials. The Khmelnytskyi community received the national award “For Consistency in Open Governance,” and according to research by Transparency International Ukraine’s “Transparent Cities” program, Khmelnytskyi was included in the list of cities with high transparency scores, particularly in the financial and budgetary spheres.
At the same time, the city continues to modernize its public infrastructure. According to data provided by the program’s organizers, nearly 90% of Khmelnytskyi’s trolleybus and bus fleet has been updated, and 44 new trolleybuses have entered service over the past year.
Another major infrastructure initiative has been the modernization of the waste management system. Khmelnytskyi is implementing a comprehensive project designed to transform the system for collecting, sorting, and recycling municipal waste.
The community is paying special attention to energy sustainability and the development of distributed generation. The “2 MWe of Sun” project for the municipal utility “Khmelnytskyi Vodokanal” won the 100 gREen AWARD-2025. In 2025, the Khmelnytskyi community also joined the European Energy Award program.
Khmelnytskyi’s international ties are actively expanding. The community is developing partnerships with Stuttgart and Dresden in Germany, and in 2025 received the “Best Practice 2025” award from the U-LEAD with Europe program.
A new direction in international cooperation was the establishment of a sister-city relationship with the American city of Tampa, Florida. The parties signed not only a main partnership agreement but also cooperation agreements in several areas.
In particular, Khmelnytskyi and Tampa plan to develop cooperation in the fields of business and investment, education, renewable energy, healthcare, digitalization, and culture. For Khmelnytskyi, the partnership with one of Florida’s major economic centers opens up additional opportunities to attract international projects and investments.
Oleksandr Symchyshyn was born on November 4, 1980, in the village of Yosypivka in the Khmelnytskyi region. He graduated from the History Department of the Kamianets-Podilskyi State Pedagogical University, completed graduate studies, and defended his dissertation, earning a Candidate of Historical Sciences degree.
The nationwide “Person of the Year” program has been held in Ukraine since 1995 and honors representatives from various spheres of public, economic, cultural, and professional life. “Person of the Year 2025” marks the program’s 30th anniversary.
Open4Business is the information partner of the nationwide “Person of the Year” program.
community, KHMELNYTSKYI, local self-government, PERSON OF THE YEAR, Олександр Симчишин
