Education

He went to first grade in Bamako, the capital of Mali. His parents lived there at a former French air force base. He studied for only one year, after which the family returned to Dnipro.^[8] He studied at Dnipro school No. 73.

In 1993, he graduated with honours from Oles Honchar Dnipro National University with two degrees: History and Social Studies and Law.

In 1997, he defended his PhD thesis at the National University Odesa Law Academy in the speciality Theory of Law. Philosophy of Law.^[9] At that time, he was the youngest candidate of law in Ukraine.

Lawyer activities

In 2000, he received a certificate to practice law. Filatov started a lawyer's business, worked as a legal adviser and lecturer in civil law at the Academy of the Customs Service of Ukraine. He participated in court cases, including those related to the interests of oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi. Filatov is believed to be a staff lawyer of the Privat Group, specialising in the redistribution of corporate property.^[10]

Borys Filatov himself denies this, as during the same period he supported the processes related to Mykolaiv Alumina Plant, Odesaoblenergo, Ingulets Iron Ore dressing Works, Central Iron Ore Enrichment Works and other enterprises to which Privat Group has no relation. Filatov has cooperated with a large number of financial and industrial groups in Ukraine.

In the course of his legal practice, Filatov often came into conflict with politicians who supported his opponents. In particular, with MPs Inna Bohoslovska and Svyatoslav Oliynyk,^[11] the head of the Dnipro Regional State Administration Volodymyr Yatsuba,^[12][13] and former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko.^[14]

Journalism

In 2005, Borys Filatov began his journalistic career. He hosted the author's television project Gubernski Chronicles on Channel 9, a regional TV channel in Dnipro. In the course of his journalistic career, Borys Filatov paid great attention to investigations into the activities of former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko. As a result of the investigations, two television films were made, which revealed the essence of the charges brought against Lazarenko in the United States, and a book was published, The Lazarenko Phenomenon (2008).^[15]

In 2010, he moved to Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Television and Radio Company, where he hosted the Gubernski Prognozy (Provincial Forecasts).

Borys Filatov has made a number of TV films about his travels: Yugoslav Chronicles (2005) — about the aftermath of the Yugoslav Wars; Arab Chronicles (2006) — about the destruction of negative stereotypes about Middle Eastern countries; American Chronicles (2007, 2 parts) — about the customs and life of the American hinterland; Canadian Chronicles (2008, 3 parts) — about the fate of members of the Ukrainian diaspora; European Chronicles (2009, 4 parts) — about the pros and cons of living in a united Europe; African Chronicles (2010–2011, 3 parts) — about tribal hatred (tribalism), which can destroy not only Africa but also Ukraine.^[16]

Euromaidan

During the Revolution of Dignity, he organizationally and financially supported the protests in Dnipropetrovsk, provided the protesters with legal and informational assistance. For this activity, together with his business partner Gennadii Korban, he was persecuted by Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkul, who influenced the regional authorities.^{[17][18][19][20]}

The persecution of Filatov and Korban began after the protesters were dispersed on January 26. According to Borys Filatov, Berkut squads searched the offices of Korban, Filatov and partners under the pretext of looking for extremists. They did not have documents authorizing the search. One of the well-known “Maidan judges” (judges who persecuted Euromaidan activists) Mykola Bibik, decided to forcibly bring Korban and Filatov to court, which in fact meant detention and arrest.^[21][22]

On January 28, Filatov and Korban left Ukraine, after declaring that they were being persecuted for their citizen’s position by the authorities of the Dnipropetrovsk region, supervised by Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkul. As Korban recalls, Ihor Kolomoyskyi provided them with his private jet for an urgent departure from Ukraine.^[23]

On January 30, 2014, Filatov announced that the court's decision to bring them to court was officially cancelled.^[21] However, the pressure on the supporters of the Maidan continued. Borys Filatov described the situation in Dnipro:

“Students and high school students are massively detained in the city. Arrests are issued for found Euromaidan flags. They wanted to cut down the front door of our employee's apartment, because they came to search for explosives.”^[21]

— Borys Filatov

On February 2, Filatov and Korban were invited to Knesset and met with the deputies there, and in the evening Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein had an informal conversation with them.^[24][25]

Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration

On 4 March 2014, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration on internal affairs.

On 17 April 2014, during the Russo-Ukrainian war, he offered a monetary reward for "mercenaries", liberated administrative buildings and weapons.

Verkhovna Rada

In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Filatov as an independent candidate won a single-member district located in Dnipropetrovsk with 56.66% of the votes and became thus a member of the Ukrainian parliament (on 27 November 2014).^[26][27] In parliament, he joined the inter-fractional group UKROP.^[28]

On 24 November 2015, after being elected mayor of Dnipro, he wrote a letter of resignation as a member of the Ukrainian parliament,^[29][30] but on 26 November the Verkhovna Rada did not support his statement^[31] and his powers were withdrawn only a month later, on 24 December.^[32]

Mayor of Dnipro

In the 2015 Ukrainian local elections Filatov was elected Mayor of Dnipropetrovsk (on 15 November 2015) as a UKROP representative.^[3] On 24 November 2015 Filatov resigned as member of parliament.^[33]

In the first year of his term, he managed to agree a contract with a Turkish company for the further construction of the Dnipro Metro.^[34] In the spring of 2016, the city began the first major overhaul of the Tsentralny Bridge in more than half a century.^[35] The city also started providing systematic support to Joint Forces Operation soldiers and their families.^[36] In the summer of 2017, trolleybuses with autonomous running, unique for Ukraine, appeared in Dnipro.^[37]

In June 2020 Filatov was one of the founders and joined the new party Proposition.^[38]

Filatov was reelected Mayor of Dnipro in the 2020 Ukrainian local elections, this time as a member of Proposition.^[2]

On 16 May 2021, on Filatov's personal order, the state flag of Israel was raised over the Dnipro City Council in solidarity.^[39]

On 9 February 2022, the official flag of Belarus was replaced with a white-red-white flag at the entrance to the city council building on the Alley of the Multinational City.^[40] The next day, the Prosecutor's Office of Belarus opened a criminal case against Filatov for "inciting national hatred".^[41] The Belarusian Foreign Ministry sent a note of protest to the Ukrainian side. The demand was to return the Belarusian state flag to its place.^[41]

In 2023, he became one of the 15 leaders in the "Public Administration" category of the List of Leaders of Ukraine UP-100 rating by Ukrainska Pravda.^[42]

Ratings

According to the rating of Focus magazine 100 Most Influential Ukrainians:

• 2014 — No. 52;^[56]
• 2015 — No. 66;^[59]
• 2016 — No. 66;^[60]
• 2017 — No. 53;^[61]
• 2018 — No. 70;^[62]
• 2019 — No. 67;^[57]
• 2020 — No. 77;^[63]
• 2021 — No. 68.^[58]