Following the start of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, Saldo took a pro-Russian position. On 13 March, he took part in a pro-Russian rally in Kherson. Saldo stated that he did not support the creation of a "
people's republic" in Kherson Oblast, and said his collaboration was driven by a desire to maintain Kherson as part of Ukraine. The head of the Volodymyr Saldo Bloc on the
Kherson Oblast Council, Valery Lytvyn, sent a letter to the first deputy chairman of the Oblast Council Yuriy Sobolevsky, stating that the deputies did not agree with Saldo's choice to attend the 13 March rally. Deputies of the bloc announced that they would continue their activities in the Kherson Oblast Council as part of a new faction, titled the "Support to the programs of the President of Ukraine" faction. Saldo received attention following his participation in a meeting of the
Salvation Committee for Peace and Order, a Russian-established government organ in Kherson Oblast. Following the meeting, Olga Spivakina, a deputy of the
Kherson City Council, posted Saldo's statement on Facebook, in which he said he had been taken captive and forced to participate in the meeting. Saldo was officially appointed head of Kherson military-civilian administration by the Russian military on 26 April 2022. Following a Ukrainian missile attack on Kherson on 27 April, Saldo stated that "Kyiv abandoned people from Kherson". On 20 December 2022, President Putin awarded Saldo the
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland".
Integration of Kherson Oblast into Russia On 6 May 2022, Saldo met with
Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk People's Republic, and
Andrey Turchak, secretary of the general council of
United Russia. During an interview on the same day, Saldo stated that Kherson Oblast was already an "integral part of the big family of Russia". On 11 June, he received a Russian passport, and was quoted as saying "For me, this is a truly historic moment. I have always thought that we [Ukraine and Russia] are one country and one people." On September 20, Saldo announced via the messaging app
Telegram that the Kherson region, where Russian forces occupied about 95% of the region at the time, would hold a referendum on joining Russia, saying that he hoped the region would become "a part of Russia, a fully-fledged subject of a united country." The
referendum began on September 23, at the same time as referendums in three other occupied regions. The referendums were
declared invalid and illegal by the
United Nations General Assembly. Saldo claimed victory on social media after the self-styled referendum ended in a 87% vote for 'yes', saying that "It's already clear that the vast majority of people supported the issue of secession from Ukraine and joining Russia". On September 30, together with the other pro-Russian occupation heads
Denis Pushilin,
Leonid Pasechnik and
Yevgeny Balitsky, Saldo attended in Moscow the ceremony in which
Vladimir Putin formally announced the
annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. In December 2022, Saldo became a member of the regional political council of
United Russia in the occupied Kherson Oblast.
Administration and projects in the occupied oblast On 29 April 2022, Saldo stated that official languages in the Kherson Oblast will be both Ukrainian and Russian, and that the International Settlements Bank from
South Ossetia would soon open 200 branches in Kherson Oblast. In late October, as Ukrainian troops advanced on Kherson, Saldo's administration ordered all residents to evacuate the city. On November 8, just before Russian troops announced their withdrawal, Saldo's Deputy
Kirill Stremousov was killed in a car crash. After Ukrainian troops
retook Kherson, the pro-Russian administration centre was temporarily relocated to
Henichesk. In December 2022, Saldo announced plans to build a
planned city on the
Arabat Spit. In March 2023, Kherson Regional Council deputy
Serhii Khlan, along with locals, reported that construction of the city had accelerated, with "guest workers" shipped in to work on it. In late 2022, Saldo was bit on the hand by the
raccoon of Kherson. On 6 April 2023, Saldo, along with the three other occupation officials, had a one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin. The two discussed gas supply issues in Russian-occupied areas of Kherson Oblast. On 6 June 2023, amidst the extreme flooding in Kherson Oblast caused by the
destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, Saldo accused Ukraine of perpetrating a missile attack on the dam. He said the situation was "manageable", and that no major evacuation was required.
Assassination attempts Throughout the occupation,
Ukrainian partisans have repeatedly tried to assassinate Saldo. On 20 March 2022, Saldo's aide Pavel Slobodchikov was assassinated in Kherson by being shot and killed in his car. It was initially reported by
RT that Saldo had suffered from a stroke and was comatose. Saldo's deputy
Kirill Stremousov, said that such reports were, "part of Ukraine's information war against Russia." Some reports said he was poisoned on that day. According to Russian (
RIA Novosti and
Lenta.ru) and Ukrainian media reports, on September 12, Saldo died in intensive care after alleged poisoning. Soon, articles in the Russian media about his death were deleted. Kirill Stremousov also wrote about the supposed death of Saldo, but then deleted the post. On 19 September 2022, Ria Novosti reported that Saldo had returned to "fulfilling his duties".
Legal consequences Sanctions On 3 June 2022, he was
sanctioned by the
European Union due to his role in the Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast Following the placement of EU sanctions, the
Czech Ministry of Finance announced that they had launched an investigation into Saldo's ownership of part of the Czech company
Agriatis. Saldo had bought part of the company in 2015, which was mostly owned by his Ukrainian partner Volodymyr Erekhynskyi. He was sanctioned by the
UK government in 2022 in relation to the
Russo-Ukrainian War.
Prosecution by Ukraine On 17 March, the Office of the
Prosecutor General of Ukraine opened proceedings on treason related to the "creation of a pseudo-authority in the Kherson Oblast," with Saldo as a prime suspect in the case. The Volodymyr Saldo Bloc party's activities were suspended by the
National Security and Defense Council on 20 March, for having ties to Russia. On 14 June the Eighth Administrative Court of Appeal banned the party's activities. On 29 April 2022, the Ukrainian prosecutor pressed treason charges against Saldo for his
collaborationism. In early January 2023, the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation and the Kherson Oblast prosecutor's office raided Saldo's home. According to their findings, Saldo had been given direct orders from Russian higher-ups to commit crimes against Ukraine. Information was also uncovered about the structure of the occupation regime and salaries paid in rubles. ==Legal issues==