Chernyshov’s trip may be linked to scheme that has caused more than 1 billion hryvnia in losses to state, - media
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Unity Oleksii Chernyshov is still abroad. At the same time, his former subordinates are being served with corruption charges.
This is stated in the material of Ukrainska Pravda, Censor.NET informs.
In 2024, the NABU and SAPO were supposed to conduct searches at Chernyshov's place of residence, but despite the relevant court order, this did not happen.
The case concerns the alleged bribery of Chernyshov and his associates from the owner of the "KSM Group", a developer Serhii Kopystyra.
The ruling states that officials of the Ministry of Regional Development in 2021-2022, when it was headed by Chernyshov, could have been involved in the illegal transfer of a land plot to Kopystyr for the construction of a residential complex.
The sources said that the searches did not take place due to the influence of NABU Director Kryvonos on the detectives.
The journalists also recorded Chernyshov's secret visit to NABU, which was later explained as a meeting on transparency of "Naftogaz".
The article notes that the appointment to the Ministry of National Unity of Ukraine is another indication of the relationship between President Zelenskyy and Chernyshov. After all, this ministry was created for him.
"During the first weeks after his appointment, Chernyshov did not understand what he was supposed to do in the new ministry, except meet with Ukrainian refugees. These meetings, according to the participants, quickly turned into campaign events of the authorities," political sources told the publication.
The journalists recalled that Chernyshov was the only member of the Cabinet of Ministers who attended President Zelenskyy's birthday celebration in 2021, which took place at Timur Mindich's apartment during the quarantine restrictions. He was also the only representative of the Cabinet of Ministers at the anniversary of the head of the Presidential Administration, Andrii Yermak, at the state dacha Syniohora in the Carpathians.
"At the moment, according to UP's sources among political tops, Chernyshov is irritating Zelenskyy against the backdrop of the corruption case, and the very fact that this case could publicly hit the presidential entourage does not allow the authorities to simply 'wash their hands of it' and let the situation go. After all, such a high-ranking official in Zelenskyy's team has not yet been "suspected". And a lot of efforts are being made to prevent this from happening," the author writes.
Searches at Chernyshov's place
About a month ago, SAPO and NABU conducted searches at Chernyshov's place, almost a year after the first court order was issued.
According to the newspaper, the anti-corruption authorities jokingly attribute this to a possible escalation of the struggle for influence on Zelenskyy between Andrii Yermak and "Kvartal 95" co-owner Timur Mindich, who has influence on the Cabinet of Ministers.
However, this version seems unlikely, as the NABU has been conducting this work since November 2023, when developer Serhii Kopystyra was detained on suspicion of attempting to bribe Chernyshov's successor, then-Minister of Community Development Oleksandr Kubrakov. It was Kubrakov who, in cooperation with the anti-corruption bureau, documented the attempt.
Chernyshov abroad and the detention of his entourage
On the night of 11 June, the Deputy Prime Minister left for a business trip abroad. The same week, another person involved in the case, Maksym Horbatiuk (a pro bono adviser to Chernyshov's Minister of Community and Territorial Development), left for Poland, where he was detained.
In 2022, he and Chernyshov joined "Naftogaz" as commercial directors of one of its subsidiaries.
The journalists do not know whether this was a mere coincidence or whether Horbatiuk really knew about the investigative actions and fled.
During the week, another close associate of Chernyshov, Vasyl Volodin, who was the state secretary of the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development during Chernyshov's leadership, was also detained. He also joined "Naftogaz" and became a member of its board.
During the HACC sessions, prosecutors presented the case file, which, according to the investigation, describes Chernyshov's role in the scheme, which could have caused the state losses of more than a billion hryvnias during the full-scale invasion.
Thus, the prosecutor announced:
No later than December 2021, Kopystyra developed a criminal plan to obtain a land plot for "Citigazservice LLC" for construction in violation of the procedure established by law, for the implementation of which he involved the Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine Oleksii Chernyshov... In turn, Chernyshov, in order to conspire and conceal his participation in the criminal plan developed by Kopystyra, instructed his confidant, Maksym Horbatiuk, to communicate between Kopystyra and Tatarenko.
According to the prosecution, Horbatiuk was Chernyshov's trustee and was not an employee of the Ministry of Regional Development, but had access to documents related to the land plot and informed Tatarenko about the proceedings in the commercial courts regarding this land plot.
The prosecutor said that Chernyshov, together with other persons (Kopystyra, Tatarenko, Volodin, Horbatiuk, Sushon), implemented a joint criminal plan. In particular, Chernyshov, abusing his position, signed an order of the Ministry, which transferred state property to the State Enterprise "Ukrkomunobslugovuvannia" - in fact, in the interests of the private company Citigazservice. This was done contrary to official interests and for the benefit of the conspirators.
On 21 October 2022, Kopystyra, Horbatiuk and Chernyshov met at the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine to discuss how to continue to illegally provide "Citigazservice" LLC with a land plot for construction in violation of the established rules. The fact of the meeting was confirmed by the analysis of telephone connection data.
On 2 November 2022, Chernyshov submitted his resignation from the post of Minister of Communities and Territories Development, and on 3 November, the Rada accepted it.
The prosecutor noted:
At the same time, in pursuance of his part of the predetermined criminal plan, Chernyshov, despite the fact that the appeal of SE "Ukrkomunobslugovuvannia" dated 1 November 2022 No. 408, as required by the Civil Code of Ukraine, did not contain information on the essential terms of the transaction with "Citigazservice" LLC, realising that 3 November 2022 is the last day of his term of office, therefore, he will not be able to give consent to the conclusion of a significant economic obligation between SE "Ukrkomunobslugovuvannia" and "Citigazservice" LLC, in order to consider Sushon's appeal of 1 November 2022 and ensure that the issue of granting such consent is resolved, issued Order of the Ministry of Regional Development No. 203, by which it established a working group to consider the said appeal and instructed it to decide on granting consent to the performance of economic obligations by SE "Ukrkomunobslugovuvannia" or refusing to grant such consent based on the results of consideration of the appeal, and, contrary to the provisions on the Ministry of Regional Development and the Commercial Code of Ukraine, authorised the State Secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development Volodin to draw up a decision taken by the working group in accordance with the procedure established by law on behalf of the Ministry of Regional Development.
The investigation found that a WhatsApp chat with Minister Chernyshov was found on Volodin's phone (which was seized at his place of residence). On 23 November 2023 (2 days after Kopystyra was notified of suspicion and on the day he was imposed a preventive measure), Chernyshov wrote to Volodin and turned on the disappearing messages mode for 24 hours. This is regarded as an attempt to destroy evidence "that may be relevant to the pre-trial investigation in this criminal proceedings and further such actions may be taken".
On 13 June 2025, the HACC remanded Horbatiuk to custody, and on 17 June, Volodin. At the same time, Chernyshov left the Czech Republic for Vienna.
Chernyshov's meetings abroad
The journalists contacted all three organisations with which Chernyshov met in the Austrian capital to ask when the minister's representatives started organising these meetings. The communications department of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs stated that the request for the meeting had been received the day before.
This answer proves that the business trip to Vienna could not have been planned in advance, but was organised literally on the fly, almost day in and day out.
On 10 June, Chernyshov announced that the forum would take place on 17 June. However, he did not physically attend the event, but joined it online from Vienna.
Journalists identified him as staying at the five-star Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof.
The Ministry of National Unity did not provide the media with any dates of Chernyshov's travels. They also did not answer how long the minister's business trip will last and whether he plans to return to Ukraine
Bribery with apartments
While Chernyshov was in Vienna, another HACC hearing was held regarding Serhii Kopystyra.
The SAPO prosecutor voiced the investigation's version: Chernyshov, acting through a proxy, Maryna Medvedeva, an advisor to the patronage service of the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, participated in the administration of the process of receiving a bribe in the form of apartments.
Chernyshov's failure to return
Chernyshov's business trip dragged on for a second week. However, interlocutors in political circles argue that to remove the minister from office would be to acknowledge the fact of high-level corruption in the president's entourage.
"Allowing the deputy prime minister to be served with a suspicion means making headlines with a corruption record. An official of this level has never been suspected of corruption under the presidency of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Nor has any of the previous presidents.
Currently, representatives of the political establishment are convinced of the obvious: the issue of Chernyshov's return to Ukraine is the responsibility of the president. Just like all of Chernyshov's appointments during Zelenskyy's presidency. Very few people in the presidential team have enjoyed such loyalty from the first person for all six years," the journalists write.
Scenarios of the situation development
First
Within a few weeks, the Cabinet of Ministers is being changed or reformatted: "Chernyshov, like many other ministers, will simply get lost between the two Cabinet of Ministers without too much attention and will not appear in the new one. There are even candidates for his place."
The second
Chernyshov returns to Ukraine after a clear rescue plan is agreed upon. According to the sources, the new Prosecutor General Kravchenko may be able to "help" with this. Although Kravchenko himself denied to MPs his possible involvement in this case.
Third.
Changes in the Cabinet of Ministers are suspended, Chernyshov continues to work in the office and does not return to Ukraine.
"Such a schedule allows him to drag it out until 10 July, when the two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference, organised by the ministry he heads, will take place in Rome. And this is an almost perfect timeframe to implement either the first or the second scenario," the article says.
Currently, according to UP sources in political circles, Chernyshov's team is actively working to find appropriate events and possible options for meetings abroad in order to continue the "marathon" of unity.
Zelenskyy was in Vienna on an official visit on Monday, but he was not seen with Chernyshov in any of the photos. However, according to the UP, Chernyshov was staying at the same hotel as the official Ukrainian delegation.
"I don't think the president will continue to fight for him. I think he has two desires: to help him humanely and to destroy him politically. But First Lady Olena Zelenska and Chernyshov's wife had been friends even before the full-scale invasion began," an influential member of the presidential team said. That is why we can assume that the solution may be somewhere in the middle.
