From the “Great Construction” to Veterans’ Billions: Embezzler Yuriy Holik Is Back to Spending State Funds

Against the backdrop of international scandals, like the bombing of Dnipro businessman Vadym Yermolaiev in Monaco, another “Dnipro native,” former adviser to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk OVA and curator of the “Great Construction,” Yuriy Holik, continues to make money in Ukraine.

Yuriy Holik, who was born in Luhansk in 1977, tried his hand in media and advertising before, in 2015, he began working at the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration alongside Valentyn Reznichenko. Soon he was responsible for the most complex and “profitable” direction – maintenance and development of infrastructure.

In 2019 he was appointed to oversee the large presidential program “Great Construction” — the repair and construction of roads and infrastructure facilities — totaling more than 100 billion in pre-war hryvnias. Soon numerous scandals and accusations of inflated prices for work erupted around the curator, write Komentari.

Eventually, NABU during the investigation established that a friend of the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyna Reznichenko, a fitness trainer named Yana, turned out to be the owner of the construction company "Budinvest Engineering." Part of the budget funds were, the investigation believes, stolen through price inflation. Yuriy Holik was even listed as a suspect in this case, but ultimately, in June 2024 Holik, the curator of the “Great Construction,” left Ukraine and reportedly went to Austria. For almost 2 years after that, Yuriy Holik “behaved quietly,” but now the situation has changed.

Google under attack because of Yuriy Holik

Starting from the end of June 2026, some Ukrainian news sites began reporting a wave of complaints to Google alleging copyright violations on a number of publishers’ publications. Most of the challenged materials are related to journalistic investigations that mention Yuriy Holik. According to one of these sites, “Ukrudprom,” all articles starting from 2022 were targeted. This mechanism allows pages to be quickly removed from search without disputing the facts contained in them, essentially. According to another site, “StopKor,” none of the materials that were complained about contain borrowed content that violates anyone’s rights — all texts are original editorial materials. And, the publication believes, this may indicate an attempt to mass-delete unwanted content under the pretext of alleged “copyright protection” — a tool increasingly used recently to pressure independent media.

At the same time, since 2024 Holik, through his lawyers, has been trying to have a criminal case opened against NABU detectives under Article 387 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, “Disclosure of data of operational-search activities.” However, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court has repeatedly denied this. But why, 2 years after his “escape” from Ukraine, has Yuriy Holik suddenly become concerned about his image? One possible answer is an investigation by NashiHroshiLviv that was published in the spring of this year.

12 billion hryvnias for veterans

In April, NGLMedia published an investigation concerning a large state program to create spaces for veterans. In 2025 the Ministry of Veterans launched a program to build new spaces according to a single design – a one-story building with a total area of about 1500 sq. m, consisting of two blocks: a gym and a separate area with rooms for consultations, psychological support, conference halls, and a small café. To create 22 such spaces, the budget has already allocated 1 billion 546 million hryvnias, that is about 75 million hryvnias per building, which, according to plans for 160 such facilities, could cost about 12 billion hryvnias.

Journalists note that lobbying for this initiative was so powerful that the plot for construction in Lutsk was allocated on 28 May 2025 — three weeks before the government adopted the relevant decision. Two organizations carried out the expertise of the adapted projects: LLC "UK Ekspertyza" and LLC "Nova-Expert," spending less than a month on each object. They hurried on the tenders too — in all seven projects in 2025 only one contractor participated in the bids and received the orders, and the tender conditions effectively made it impossible for others to participate. For example, in Kryvyi Rih they required confirmation of annual revenue at the level of the expected contract value (over 130 million hryvnias) — and a personal inspection of the object signed by the customer. In Uzhhorod, they added non-mandatory quality certificates in addition to inspection. Meanwhile, the companies that ultimately received the contracts were either newly created or had incomparably little experience. The contractor in Kremenchuk had experience with work worth 2 million hryvnias but received consecutive contracts worth 132 million hryvnias.

Construction of the seven veteran spaces began in the fall of 2025. It then became clear that the cost of materials in the estimates was significantly inflated. In Kremenchuk — about 2 million hryvnias; in Kryvyi Rih — about 2,6 million; in Uzhhorod — over 7 million. Some items in the estimates were deliberately phrased vaguely, without specific characteristics, making comparison with market prices impossible. It is known that the documentation was ordered by the charitable foundation “Songs Born in the ATO” from a private entrepreneur from Zakarpattia, Yuriy Erdeli. But the founder of the foundation, Volodymyr Yurchenko, could not explain why a charitable organization is commissioning construction documentation for a state program. The director of the foundation, Yuriy Shulyka, referred to a phone call from some people at the ministry but did not disclose details.

As NGLMedia emphasized, the reason they turned to the charitable foundation “Songs Born in the ATO” was the figure of its founder, Volodymyr Yurchenko. While Valentyn Reznichenko was in office, Yurchenko was his deputy. The curator of this program at the Ministry of Veterans is Deputy Minister Viktor Baidachnyi, who, according to his official biography on the ministry’s website, worked at the Dnipropetrovsk ODA from 2018 to 2022. His workplace was the Department for Veteran Policy, which at that time was headed by Nataliia Shulyka, whose husband, Yuriy Shulyka, is the director of the charitable foundation “Songs Born in the ATO.” The latter, by the way, is also connected to Yuriy Holik, who at one time called the festivals “Songs Born in the ATO” of the eponymous foundation “ours.” Holik confirmed his connection to the festival to NGLMedia journalists.

Note that in the Prozorro public procurement system there are hundreds of tenders and auctions for the construction and outfitting of veteran spaces. For example, the cost of developing design documentation for creating such a space can range from 1 to 1,5 million hryvnias; capital repairs of premises allocated for it cost the same amount or more. Finally, there is also their equipment, for which money is also allocated from state and local budgets, which finance the program by 40%.

Criminal case of the patron and the bankruptcy of Ukrainian business — what Yuriy Holik is up to

Note that the ex-curator of the Great Construction, who is abroad, clearly needs money, because judging from open data, his business in Ukraine is collapsing. Holik owned a 25% stake in LLC “Kreatyvna Kraina” (activity – consulting on commercial activities and management, authorized capital – 1000 hryvnias), which organized a series of coworking spaces. Against the backdrop of electricity problems after Russian strikes, in 2023 the business showed miracles — nearly 39 million hryvnias. Revenues after 1,8 million hryvnias in 2022, of which 10,2 million hryvnias was net profit. However, by the results of 2025 the company did not show profitability, and net profit fell by 20 times — to 588 thousand hryvnias.

However, the situation is probably even worse: LLC "Kreatyvnyi Shtat Hulyver," in which through “Kreatyvna Kraina” Yuriy Holik owns 10%, is essentially bankrupt. One of Gulliver’s co-owners is even suing the other founders over a debt to one of his companies of 10,4 million hryvnias. Probably, Holik’s interest in creating veterans’ spaces worth billions of hryvnias is related to these financial problems. The transition from a coworking space for freelancers to creating veteran spaces financed by billions of budget hryvnias seems quite logical.

All this points to serious financial problems for the ex-curator of the “Great Construction.” It is hard to believe that he once literally returned billions. For example, just 1 project — the construction of a water pipeline in Kryvyi Rih, initiated after the Kakhovka HPP explosion at 7,7 billion hryvnias, could have been inflated by 3 billion. In addition, the investigation found that the scheme’s participants legalized material goods worth 187 million hryvnias and understated VAT payments by another 20,5 million hryvnias.

One of the key figures named is Yuriy Holik, known as the public coordinator of the “Great Construction.” He was previously mentioned in the case concerning disclosure of pre-trial investigation data by NABU. But Holik’s real problem is the case of LLC “Budinvest Engineering” (activity – construction of roads and highways, authorized capital – 1 million 50 thousand hryvnias). According to the investigation, officials of the Dnipropetrovsk ODA in 2022 awarded the company contracts for construction and repair of highways worth 1,5 billion hryvnias. Part of these funds was subsequently withdrawn under the guise of ordering goods and services, most likely to the accounts of fictitious companies. Valentyn Reznichenko, twice former head of the Dnipropetrovsk ODA, is directly listed as a suspect in this case.

As stated in the case materials, over almost 2 years “Budinvest” made payments of 3,75 million hryvnias to LLC “Sevent Consulting Group,” when its director was Oleksandr Reznichenko, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region’s son. At the same time, Valentyn Reznichenko himself is the company’s owner, which was an obvious conflict of interest. Since 2024 Holik has also figured in this case, in addition to the case about “leaks” from anti-corruption agencies, which forced him to leave Ukraine.

Note that lately, after a long hiatus, shades of former “untouchables” are increasingly appearing in the Ukrainian information space. For example, Viktor Medvedchuk, who is allegedly being helped by Oleksandr Spektor.