The Embezzler Yurii Holyk Has Again Found Himself at the Center of a Scandal Over Million-Hryvnia State Contracts

The embezzler Yurii Holyk has again found himself at the center of a scandal over million-hryvnia state contracts

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 overseer of the “Great Construction” program Yurii Holyk continues to make money in Ukraine.

Yurii Holyk, who was born in Luhansk in 1977, tried his hand in media and advertising before starting to work at the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration in 2015 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” — repair and construction of roads and infrastructure facilities — totaling over 100 billion in the “pre-war” hryvnias. Soon numerous scandals and accusations of inflated prices for works erupted around the overseer’s figure, write Komentarii.

Ultimately, NABU during its investigation established that a friend of the head of Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko — fitness trainer Yana — turned out to be the owner of the construction company "Budinvest Engineering." Part of the budget funds, investigators believe, were stolen by inflating prices. Yurii Holyk was even treated as a suspect in this case, but in June 2024 the overseer of the “Great Construction” left Ukraine and reportedly went to Austria. For almost 2 years after that, Yurii Holyk “kept a low profile,” but now the situation has changed.

Google under attack because of Yurii Holyk

Starting at the end of June 2026, some Ukrainian news sites began reporting a wave of complaints to Google alleging copyright violations on a number of publications by various outlets. Most of the contested materials are connected to journalistic investigations that mention Yurii Holyk. According to one of these sites, "Ukrrudprom," 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 against which complaints were filed contains borrowed content that infringes anyone’s rights — all texts are original editorial material. And, the outlet 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.

Since 2024, Yurii Holyk, through his lawyers, has been trying to get a criminal case opened against NABU detectives under Article 387 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, “Disclosure of Data on Operational-Investigative Measures.” However, the Appellate Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court has repeatedly denied this. But why, 2 years after his “escape” from Ukraine, has Yurii Holyk suddenly become concerned about his image? The answer to this question is likely one of the investigations 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 based on a single project — a one-story building with a total area of about 1500 sq. m, consisting of two blocks: a gym and a separate space with rooms for consultations, psychological support, conference halls, and a small cafe. To create 22 such spaces, the budget has already allocated 1 billion 546 million hryvnias, i.e., about 75 million hryvnias per building, which, with plans for 160 such facilities, could cost about 12 billion hryvnias.

Journalists note that the 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 corresponding decision. The adapted project examinations were carried out by two organizations: LLC "UK Ekspertyza" and LLC "Nova-Expert," spending less than a month on each facility. They hurried on the tenders as well — in all seven projects in 2025 only one contractor participated in the bidding and received the orders, while the tender conditions effectively made participation by others impossible. For example, in Kryvyi Rih they required confirmation of annual income at the level of the expected contract value (over 130 million hryvnias) — and an on-site personal inspection signed by the customer. In Uzhhorod, in addition to the inspection, they added non-mandatory quality certificates. Meanwhile, the companies that ultimately received the contracts were either newly established or had significantly little experience. The contractor in Kremenchuk had experience conducting works for 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 substantially 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 formulated vaguely, without specific characteristics, which makes comparison with market prices impossible. At the same time it is known that the documentation was ordered by the charitable foundation "Songs Born in the ATO" from a private entrepreneur from Zakarpattia, Yurii Erdeli. But the founder of the foundation, Volodymyr Yurchenko, could not explain why a charity organization commissions construction documentation for a state program. The director of the foundation, Yurii Shulika, referred to a call from some people in the ministry, but did not disclose details.

As NGLMedia emphasized, the reason to turn specifically to the charitable foundation “Songs Born in the ATO” was the figure of its founder Volodymyr Yurchenko. During Valentyn Reznichenko’s tenure, he was his deputy. The program’s overseer at the Ministry of Veterans is Deputy Minister Viktor Baidachnyi, who, according to his official biography on the ministry’s website, worked in the Dnipropetrovsk RSA from 2018 to 2022. His place of work was the Office for Veteran Policy, which at that time was headed by Nataliia Shulika, whose husband Yurii Shulika is the director of the charitable foundation “Songs Born in the ATO.” The latter, by the way, is also connected to Yurii Holyk, who at one time called the “Songs Born in the ATO” festivals of the eponymous foundation “ours.” Holyk confirmed his connection to the festival to NGLMedia journalists.

It is worth noting that in the Prozorro public procurement system there are hundreds of tenders and auctions related to the construction and outfitting of veteran spaces. For example, the cost of developing project documentation for creating such a space can range from 1 to 1,5 million hryvnias; the same amount or even more can be spent on major repairs of premises allocated for it. Finally, there is also their equipment, for which funds are also allocated from state and local budgets that fund the program by 40%.

Criminal case of the patron and bankruptcy of Ukrainian business — what Yurii Holyk lives on

Note that the former overseer of the “Great Construction,” who is abroad, clearly needs money, because, judging by open data, his business in Ukraine is collapsing. Thus, Holyk owned a 25% stake in LLC “Kreatyvna Kraina” (activity — consulting on commercial activities and management, charter capital — 1000 hryvnias), which organized several coworking spaces. Against the background of power problems after Russian strikes, in 2023 the business showed wonders — almost 39 million hryvnias. Revenue after 1,8 million hryvnias 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 likely even worse: LLC "Kreatyvnyi Shtat Huliver," in which Yurii Holyk owns 10% through “Kreatyvna Kraina,” is actually in bankruptcy. 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. Holyk’s interest in creating veteran spaces worth billions of hryvnias is likely connected to these financial problems. The transition from a coworking space for freelancers to creating veteran spaces funded with billions of budget hryvnias seems quite logical.

All this points to serious financial problems of the former overseer of the “Great Construction.” It is hard to believe that he once literally handled billions. For example, just 1 project — construction of a water pipeline to Kryvyi Rih, initiated after the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP — worth 7,7 billion hryvnias, could have been overcharged by 3 billion. In addition, the investigation found that participants in the scheme legalized material goods worth 187 million hryvnias and underreported VAT payments by another 20,5 million hryvnias.

One of the key figures named is Yurii Holyk, 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 the real problem for Yurii Holyk is the case of LLC “Budinvest Engineering” (activity — construction of roads and highways, charter capital — 1 million 50 thousand hryvnias). According to investigators, officials of the Dnipropetrovsk RSA in 2022 awarded the company contracts for construction and repair of highways totaling 1,5 billion hryvnias. Part of these funds was later siphoned off under the guise of ordering goods and services, most likely to the accounts of fictitious companies. Valentyn Reznichenko, the two-time former head of the Dnipropetrovsk RSA, is directly listed as a suspect in this case.

As stated in the case materials, over about 2 years “Budinvest” made payments of 3,75 million hryvnias to LLC “Sevent Consulting Group,” when its director was Oleksandr Reznichenko, the son of the head of Dnipropetrovsk region. At the same time, Valentyn Reznichenko himself is the owner of the company, which represented a clear conflict of interest. Since 2024, Yurii Holyk has also featured in this case, and this, in addition to the case about “leaks” from anti-corruption agencies, is what forced him to leave Ukraine.

It should be noted that lately, after a long break, the information space in Ukraine has increasingly been seeing the shadows of former “untouchables.” For example, Viktor Medvedchuk, who is allegedly being helped by Oleksandr Spektor.