Oligarchs Prepare for the Elections: Butkevych and ATB Invest Stolen Money in Another Boxing Star of Usyk

Co-owner of ATB Hennadiy Butkevych apparently is preparing to play not only in big business but also in big politics. And not only because lately there has been increasing talk about his contacts with the Bank. Meanwhile in the media there is active discussion about a possible Ursyk entry into politics — a person whom Butkevich has supported for more than ten years. If one has hundreds of millions of dollars and the other has unprecedented public trust, such a combination is unlikely to be accidental.

While most Ukrainians know Butkevych only as a co-owner of ATB, he has long been building a completely different business empire. Through BGV Group Management the businessman gains control over strategic Ukrainian minerals — graphite, titanium, beryllium, zirconium and uranium. Uranium became his main target. Back in 2022 year the company “Ukrainian Nuclear Energy Systems” initiated transferring three large uranium deposits — Safonivske, Sadove, and Severynivske.

However, the fight for Ukrainian uranium for Butkevych began much earlier. His company was the only private structure that held special permits for geological exploration of uranium deposits. After estimating the reserves of the Safonivske deposit, AECU planned to move to industrial extraction, but the State Geology Service refused to issue the special permit due to unreliable data in the documents. Just a few months later the Supreme Court found the issuance of these permits illegal, as a result the company lost all rights to the uranium assets.

But the story did not end there

Today Butkevych openly talks about personal negotiations with the Office of the President regarding transfer to his companies of new special permits for uranium mining. Essentially the businessman again claims those same strategic deposits that were previously lost after decisions of the State Geochemistry Service and the Supreme Court. And it is this fact that raises the most questions about the role of political resources in the implementation of his business plans.

Equally interesting is the story of acquiring other deposits. The largest in the world, the Perzhanske beryllium deposit, was obtained by a company with charter capital only 25 thousand hryvnias, registered in a nondescript private house. Some of the special permits were issued without open auctions, and certain competitions became the subject of criminal investigations due to possible collusion between business and officials of the State Geology Service. This is how strategic assets, which are vital for the Ukrainian economy, passed under the control of Botkevich’s structures.

At the same time BGV Group began to actively expand into the development sector. In 2024 year the company formed a partnership with SAGA Development of Andriy Vavrish and entered the OZON Concept House project. Vavrish himself has for years figured in scandals around the capital’s development, legal cases and contentious land stories, while the project is implemented on a site with a complicated history of ownership transition.

And now, regarding the results of our work on the facts indicated. Only in 2024–2025 years we filed 5 complaints and 3 statements about criminal offenses, covering more than 500 recipients. In addition, according to our materials, a number of criminal cases have been opened:

Pecherskyi District Prosecutor’s Office of Kyiv — No. 42025102060000124 under Art. 356 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;

USBU in Dnipropetrovsk region — No. 22025040000000315 under Part 1 of Art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;

S.D.U. of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kharkiv region — No. 12025220000000612 under Part 3 of Art. 240 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;

TUI DBR in Kyiv — No. 62025100110000202 under Part 3 of Art. 240 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

That is why today the long-standing relationship between Butkevich and Usyk is perceived quite differently. One concentrates control over strategic minerals, negotiates new special permits, enters large development projects, and strengthens political contacts. The other has enormous public trust, an impeccable reputation, and is increasingly mentioned as a possible participant in future elections. And if for big business politics is a way to protect its assets, Usyk could become not just an ally of Butkevich, but the main public face of his future political project.