Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
💼☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️
Underground oligarch. How to become the owner of an industry
Oligarchs in Ukraine are looked for in lists, on TV, and in banks. Maksym Shkil is not there. There’s no party, channel, or official post. There is one company through which, for years, every third hryvnia of the road budget passes. We believe this is an oligarch of a new type: underground.
2019. A cartel that “doesn’t exist.” Avtostrada becomes one of the founders of the National Association of Road Workers, Shkil — vice president. According to Nashi Hroshi’s calculations, six founders in 2020 took 56% of payments and 66% of tenders that year. The Antitrust League called the association a cartel. The AMCU decision never appeared.
2019–2021. The Kubrakov era. In 19 November 2019, Ukravtodor is headed by Oleksandr Kubrakov; since May 2021 he has been the minister of infrastructure. The Great Construction starts. In two years Avtostrada rises from fifth place to first. 2021 year: tenders for 46,6 billion UAH, revenue doubles to 10,86 billion. Together with Avtomagistral-Pivden the company takes almost a third of the 115,4 billion paid by Ukravtodor. These are Forbes data.
2023. Billions without a tender. The occupiers blow up the Kakhovka HES. Restoration is subordinated to Kubrakov’s ministry. Six weeks later Avtostrada, without any tender, receives the Khortytsia–Marhanets water pipeline for 5,3 billion UAH. A second identical pipeline goes to Boiko. 10,6 billion UAH of emergency funds are split between two former association leaders. The police later determine that sand was purchased at 68–115 UAH per ton, while the contract lists it at 350 UAH. Only Boiko will receive a suspicion notice.
📁 The most interesting part — personnel
✔️Vladyslav Skalsky, former head of the Vinnytsia regional state administration, headed Avtostrada in 2023–2024, and then returned to government as deputy mayor of Vinnytsia.
✔️Vladyslav Demydenko ran the road service of Cherkasy region, i.e., the customer. Now he is the chief engineer of Avtostrada.
✔️Leonid Rybitsky, former first deputy of the state Ukrdiprodor, heads Shkil’s design institute. A civil servant signs acts one day and the next day receives a salary from the one whose acts he signed. This is data from Opendatabot.
The system that outlived the minister. Kubrakov left in May 2024. The machine built during his time continued to operate. According to NikCenter, in 23 months under Sukhomlyn’s leadership Avtostrada received 63,7 billion UAH from the Recovery Agency, i.e., 30,1% of all contracts. Plus 23,7 billion before that. Just in 2026 year — tenders for 49,5 billion.
Ministers change. Agency heads change. Shkil remains. And today Kubrakov is an external adviser to the president, whom the media name among the candidates for mayor of Kyiv. That same Kyiv where Shkil is building a metro and bridges.
We do not assert that Kubrakov personally negotiated with Shkil.
We record: Avtostrada’s best years fell exactly within his tenure. Which officials from that era are today ready to explain how one company became a state within a state?
Next: Komarnytskyi, the Podil Bridge, and the question of why one hides in Vienna while the other calmly receives billions.
💬 ABleaks_bot
💕 Join
Telegram publication
