“Ukrainian Forests” at 30 Billion: How a Profitable State Enterprise Is Being Turned into a Feeding Ground for Political Power Clusters

Currently, the fattest place for enrichment in the government sector appears to be the state enterprise “Forests of Ukraine.” In recent years it was led by Yuriy Bolokhovetz (bio), and this simple chart shows what fat piglet he has been fattening.

He increased the enterprise’s net income by one third, but instead of trimming, he increased tax payments to some of the largest in the country—16 billion hryvnias in the past year. And this year they planned to raise it further; the first half of the year should have ended with 10 billion in taxes.

But in April, someone reached Zelensky, and the president personally and publicly stated that leadership at “Forests of Ukraine” needed to be changed. Prime Minister Svyridенко and her economy and agricultural policy minister Sobolev hesitated, but what could they do when this “someone” is so powerful that they can influence what’s in Zelensky’s own head, and they carried out the task.

The new head became a certain industry figure, Ihor Zubovych (left in the photo).

Some consider him a protégé of David Arakhamia, because he once ran the State Ecological Inspectorate of the Southwestern district (covering Odesa Oblast and Arakhamia’s home region Mykolaiv Oblast). And in 2025 someone elevated him to the level of deputy minister of economy.

But there are sources who believe that what is happening now is a distribution of spheres of influence among different groups.

Beside Zubovych in the photo is his official adviser Oleh Salo. The new generation doesn’t remember this figure, but the old-timers should recall (bio). Oleh Salo is a former major general of the police; the peak of his career was during Yanukovych’s era. In 2012 he was the first deputy head of the Public Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Under Yanukovych, Salo even briefly ran things in Lviv, but then he was purged and lingered in the shadows for a long time. But when someone in the spring spun Zelensky toward transferring the “Forests of Ukraine,” he came into the light and in June officially took the position of adviser on coordination and control of the Department of Ensuring Core Activities, which is part of the Department of Coordinating Activities of the state enterprise “Forests of Ukraine.” This gave rise to speculation about who might be involved in the future sacking of the state enterprise that pays billions in taxes to the budget.

The new leadership has already cut the pay of the old top management by 15%. Officially and legally it’s a long process to fire people, so the new broom is hinting at whom it doesn’t want.

Also in the topic is Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotsky. “Forests of Ukraine” supposedly come under his purview, giving him a chance to settle many issues before the verdict. Recently the NABU and SAP have handed a case to court about misappropriation of food products at the outset of the war. According to the investigation, Vysotsky, then serving as first deputy minister of economy and agriculture, sanctioned purchases of food abroad at twice the market price. But for Zelensky this is not a problem, and during the upheaval of Svyridenko’s government, Vysotsky was not harmed; he became minister of the agricultural policy and food.

Gossip says that soon people connected with some other “Servants of the People” will start parking themselves at “Forests.” Let’s see who surfaces. Currently released is the income declaration of Volodymyr Hrytsuk, candidate for the position of director of a branch of the Polissky Forest Office of “Forests of Ukraine.” His social lift included a move from the nature park “Puszcza Radzivilova.” And now he has a lot of 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 is pressuring salary earners, and someone has to earn and hand over to the cash desk. And Versace underwear won’t buy themselves. And they are needed by a bunch of people who form the backbone of the corruption regime. Therefore bad lords must be fed fat bones so they gnaw them and don’t bark at the hand that feeds them.

We will watch the festive splurge online. Because in “Forests of Ukraine” you can steal a lot of money just from the forest itself. Therefore, we will inevitably see a drop in the enterprise’s official revenues. And with it a drop in taxes to the state budget. And therefore we will have less weaponry we can buy with our money not to be occupied. But someone will have a new briefcase and a Mercedes. And you can’t pretend it happened by chance here. Unpaid money in especially large amounts after Zelensky publicly stated that he doesn’t like how the previous head worked—that is the marker of change.

Blog by: Yuriy Nikolov