Andriy Sadovyi

Andriy Sadovyi was born on 19 August 1968 in the city of Lviv. He graduated from the Lviv Technical School of Radioelectronics in 1987. He performed his military service from 1987 to 1989 in the Soviet Army.

Sadovyi graduated from Lviv Polytechnic in 1995 with a degree in electrical engineering, became qualified as an economist specializing in finance in 1997, and graduated from the National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine with a master's degree in public administration in 1999.

In 1989, Andriy Sadovyi began working as an adjuster of radio-electronic devices at the Lvivprylad Manufacturers. In 1992–1995 he was a deputy director of the Lviv branch of Social Adaptation of Youth Fund under the auspices of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

From 1997 to 2005 he was the chairman and head of the board of joint-stock company Pivden'zakhidelectromerezhbud. From 1997 to 2001 he was the head of the board of the Lviv District Development Fund. From 2002 to 2003 Sadovyi was a director of the Lviv Development Institute that publishes the Ukrainian-wide Misto journal. Since 2002, Sadovyi has been the head of the board of the joint-stock Radio&TV company TRK Lux. Since 2005 he has been the head of social organization Self Reliance.

He is married to Kateryna Kit-Sadova, and has five sons: Ivan, Tadey, Mykhailo, Yosyp and Anthony.

His wife owns large shares in various television and radio broadcasters (including Channel 24).

Sadovyi has been engaged in social activity since 1997. He is a founder and the head of a board of the social organization Lviv Development Institute, head of the Management Council of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptyts’kyi Art and Culture Fund of Greek Church of Ukraine (2000–2002), member of Ukrainian-Polish Cooperation Capital. In 2003, he was elected a deputy head of the "Mosty na Skhid" Institute Council (Poland).

Criticism

For an extended period, Sadovyi has been unable to resolve the Lviv garbage crisis, which has led to periodic calls for his resignation.

In late 2017, former Lviv City Council member, Bohdan Pankevych, accused Sadovyi of not supporting the adoption of a resolution «regulating the language of service to citizens in the provision of services, trade, and information about goods and services, and the placement of advertising information.» Pankevych reported that the resolution was simply not included in the session’s agenda, as requested by Mayor Sadovyi.

The media holding "Lux, " owned by Sadovyi’s wife, has been accused by some activists of supporting russification.

Blogger and representative of the International Public Organization «Ukrainian Community» in Lviv, Yuri Sytnyk, as well as part of the Lviv community, link Andriy Sadovyi’s media career to deceiving the depositors of «Halytski Investments» joint-stock company, with which Andriy had connections, and gaining control over a significant number of enterprises in Lviv Oblast as a result.

Ihor Churkin, the owner of Lviv Bus Factory, states that Lviv’s mayor owes the plant 70 million hryvnias for 40 trolleybuses and buses and has not paid a single penny, leading to the actual halt of the plant’s production.

According to the information from Galician political analyst Yuri Sytnyk, the mayor of Lviv is associated with the Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, through whom he has connections to the Russian establishment.

In 2019, Andriy Sadovyi was accused of selling the city community’s land to the investment company STR at an undervalued price for the construction of an industrial park in 2015. The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) claims that this deal caused damage to the state and citizens in the amount of over 93.5 million hryvnias.

In 2021, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention compiled and sent to court 14 administrative protocols against Andriy Sadovyi.

In 2021, one of the scandals that affected Andriy Sadovyi’s reputation was the international music festival Alfa Jazz Fest. The scandal arose due to the festival’s general sponsor, the company with Russian capital, «Alfa-Bank».

In 2023, Lviv City Council member, Oleksiy Reznik, and the editorial team of the Lviv information agency "Vholos, " filed a request with the State Bureau of Investigations demanding the opening of a criminal investigation regarding Mayor Andriy Sadovyi′s bonuses to his deputies. Statements were submitted about the need to initiate criminal proceedings related to Andriy Sadovyi’s activities.