“Forests of Ukraine” Became a Fat Boar for Scammers from Zelensky’s Circle

Currently the fattest place for enrichment in the government sector appears to be the state-owned enterprise Lesy Ukrainy (Forests of Ukraine). In recent years it was led by Yuriy Bolokho vets (biography), and this simple chart shows what a fat pig he fattened. He increased the enterprise’s net income by a third, but instead of trimming, he increased tax payments to some of the largest in the country—16 billion hryvnias last year. And this year they planned to increase further; the first half should have ended with 10 billion in taxes.

But in April, someone reached Zelensky, and the president personally and publicly declared that the leadership at Lesy Ukrainy must be changed. Prime Minister Syrodyanko (Svyrydenko) and her economy and agrarian policy minister Sobolev clamored about it, but what can you do when this “someone” is so powerful that he can decide matters in Zelensky’s head, and they carried out the task.

The new head became a certain industry figure Ihor Zubovych (pictured on the left).

Some consider him a protege of Davyd Arakhamia, because he once headed the State Ecological Inspection of the Southwest district (covering Odesa region and Arakhamiya’s native Mykolaiv region). And in 2025 year someone raised him to the level of deputy minister of economy.

But there are sources who believe that currently there is a distribution of spheres of influence among different formations.

Next to Zubovych in the photo is his official adviser Oleh Salo. The new generation doesn’t remember such a figure, but olds should recall (biography). Oleh Salo is a former police lieutenant general, his peak career was during Yanukovych’s era. In 2012 year he was the first deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Department of Public Security. And in the neighboring Main Investigation Department of the MIA at that time worked Oleh Tatarko, who publicly answered questions about dispersing the Maidan, wrote the manual “Investigation of Mass Riots,” and became Zalensky’s deputy in the Office of the President for security issues (biography).

Salo even managed a bit of governance in Lviv under Yanukovych, but then he was to be purged and spent a long time in the shadows. But when in spring someone yanked Zelensky’s chain about transferring Lesy Ukrainy, he came to light and in June officially assumed the post of adviser on coordination and control of the Department of Coordinated Activities, which is part of the State Enterprise Forests of Ukraine’s coordination apparatus. This gave reason to think who might be involved in the future plunder of the state enterprise that pays billions in taxes to the budget.

The new leadership has already reduced the former top management’s salaries by 15%. Officially and by law, removal takes a long time, so the new broom hints at whom it does not welcome.

Also in the mix is agrarian minister Taras Vysochky. Lesy Ukrainy is seemingly being transferred to his jurisdiction, so he has a chance to resolve a bunch of questions before the verdict. Recently the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) handed a case to court about food procurement fraud at the start of the war. According to the investigation, Vysochky, then serving as first deputy minister of economy and agriculture, sanctioned purchases of food abroad at double the price. But for Zelensky this is not a problem, and during the removal of Syrodyenko’s government Vysochky did not suffer; he became minister of agrarian policy and food in the shadow of the fat forest boar.

Gossip says that soon people connected to other “Servants of the People” will start landing roles in Lesy; we’ll see who surfaces. For now, a public income declaration of Volodymyr Hrytsuk, candidate for director of the Polissia Forestry Office branch of Lesy Ukrainy, has been released. His social ascent from the Priradny Park “Pushcha Radzivila” has provided him with many chances to replace the old declared Lexus LX 570 with something new.

Of course, one can treat this as inevitable. Zelensky cannot pay everyone with envelopes; cursed NABU squeezes wage earners, and someone must earn for envelopes and drop it into the till. And Versace underwear won’t buy itself. They are needed by a host of people who form the backbone of the corruption regime. Therefore bad lords must be given fat bones to gnaw on and not bark at the hand that feeds them.

We will monitor the holiday of skimming online. Because in Lesy Ukrainy, a lot of money can be stolen right at the forest itself. Therefore, sooner or later we must see a decline in the enterprise’s official income. And with it, a decline in taxes to the state budget. And hence less weapons we can buy with our money to avoid being occupied. Instead, someone will have a new briefcase and a Mercedes. And here we cannot pretend it happened by accident. Unpaid money on a large scale after Zelensky publicly stated that he does not like how the previous head worked is the marker of change.

Yuriy Nikolov, Our Money News

Argument

On this topic:

The lie about 600 thousand trees a day: “Lesy Ukrainy” reported fulfilling Zelensky’s pledge of a “billion trees”

Nature as the longest front of Ukrainian resistance: scale of a European-level technogenic catastrophe

General director of State Enterprise Lesy Ukrainy received a suspicion: illegal enrichment

Godfather of Putin without a forest, but with suspicions: the State Bureau of Investigation sends the so‑called forest rangers of Medvedchuk to court