Lisovyi peredil-2026: who controls the industry’s multi-million financial flows during the war?

Multi-million shadow schemes, an optimistic “Excel plan” for $50 million in cash every month, and a series of high-profile personnel reshuffles — is a new anti-corruption detective story unfolding in Ukraine’s forestry sector? At the center of the story that could become the sector’s “Carthage” are the names of senior officials and top managers, including Taras Vysotskyi, Ihor Zubovych, and Viktor Smal.

The StopKor team, which for many years has consistently exposed corruption and abuses in the forestry sector, noticed an interesting insider tip appearing in the media space as part of its media monitoring.

11 September a post from the Telegram channel “Vykryvach” was published online, citing the channel’s own sources in law enforcement. The post, in particular, talks about a possible informal system of monthly cash collections in the forestry sector totaling up to 50 million dollars.

As the channel “Vykryvach” suggests, after the reform of SE “Forests of Ukraine” the new management team was allegedly given a specific unofficial KPI: to turn a percentage of timber sales and personnel decisions into a continuous cash flow. It also names a concrete figure: “Plan — up to $50 million per month.”

However, according to the channel, intervention by NABU and the lack of expected results allegedly provoked internal struggle, suspensions of officials, and a search for the “guilty” parties.

“A separate part of the insider tip concerns Taras Vysotskyi, Ihor Zubovych, and the head of the State Forest Resources Agency Viktor Smal. According to Vykryvach’s interlocutors, problems with fulfilling informal tasks allegedly began to be explained by Smal’s activities — allegedly he was obstructing certain processes. Smal was suspended,” the post from 11 September says.

The StopKor editorial team tried to verify, using open sources, everything that can be checked: court registries, notifications from NABU, SAP, DBR, SBU, the Office of the Prosecutor General, personnel orders of SE “Forests of Ukraine” and the State Forest Resources Agency, as well as materials from our previous investigations.

Below are the results of that work. Claims based solely on the insider post from the channel “Vykryvach” and not yet supported by independent documentary confirmation are flagged separately as versions or hypotheses that require official assessment and responses from competent bodies.

The sector in a state of permanent personnel turbulence

State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is one of the state’s largest assets, simultaneously involved in the wartime economy, timber export contracts, and corporate governance reform. For that reason, in our view, the struggle for control over appointments at SE “Forests of Ukraine” and at the State Forest Resources Agency subordinated to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy may be intensifying.

In recent years SE “Forests of Ukraine” has gone through at least three changes of heads, high-profile criminal proceedings against directors of regional branches, and a conflict of interest at the supervisory board level, and currently it is officially in the process of liquidation.

StopKor has already written about an SBU-exposed scheme of selling elite timber disguised as firewood at the Slobozhanskyi forest office, as well as insider testimony about manipulations with timber grades at the same Slobozhanskyi office.

Those two pieces documented the problem at the level of a specific regional office. The new post from “Vykryvach” describes a much larger — though so far unproven — picture: an alleged systemic “levy” across the entire sector in favor of certain law enforcement representatives.

What from this picture has already been documented?

Yurii Bolokhovets headed SE “Forests of Ukraine” during its transformation from a network of regional forestry enterprises into a single state enterprise. According to the investigation by the State Bureau of Investigations and the Office of the Prosecutor General, in 2021 while still head of the State Forest Resources Agency, Bolokhovets may have acquired assets worth approximately 10,4 million UAH, which substantially exceeds his declared lawful income — the difference was estimated by investigators at more than 7,9 million UAH (our colleagues at Slovo i Dilo covered this in detail).

Interestingly, according to his declaration on the NACP website, Yurii Bolokhovets invested over 7 million UAH in war bonds. That is effectively an amount comparable to the value of the apartment he used “rent-free.” If you take into account a yield of 16%, these government bonds allow him to receive an income of at least one million hryvnias per year.

17 February 2026 the Higher Anti-Corruption Court refused to cancel the suspicion against Bolokhovets, but on 10 March the VAKS Appeals Chamber annulled that decision — effectively halting the illegal enrichment case at the procedural stage.

As StopKor journalists recorded, People’s Deputy Olha Vasylevska-Smagliuk was present at Bolokhovets’s court hearing to support him.

Investigative outlets ZN.ua and OBOZ.UA also pointed to the scale of criminal proceedings around the sector: in particular, reports mentioned suspicion of former director of the “Eastern Forest Office” branch Oleksandr Kravchenko for exceeding official powers with damages of more than 68 million UAH, and a parallel NABU investigation into Bolokhovets himself for illegal enrichment.

In July 2026, according to Fakty citing Korotko.Pro, Bolokhovets, already after his suspension, allegedly tried together with the then-head of the State Forest Resources Agency to secure the removal of the acting head of “Forests of Ukraine,” Ihor Zubovych, and his own return to the enterprise’s leadership.

The Telegram channel “Vykryvach” separately stated that, according to its alleged law enforcement sources, Bolokhovets was the first to hear the demand to ensure a cash flow of up to 50 million dollars per month and (quote) “initially took it as a joke,” and after the sector reform old cash channels reportedly sagged significantly, which allegedly complicated fulfilling such “wishes.” Note that this claim lacks independent confirmation and is presented by the channel as a retelling of anonymous interlocutors’ words.

“The question arises: where could the shadow ‘curators’ of the forestry sector get such sums (we are talking about 50 million dollars) in cash? One can assume that so-called conversion centers could have participated in such a scheme, which would convert these funds into ‘cash’. 50 million dollars is literally cubic meters, half a ton of cash; the number seems fantastical. How could such operations go unnoticed by the State Financial Monitoring Service and competent supervisory bodies?” comments investigative journalist Roman Lytvyn, who for many years has fought abuses in the forestry sector.

Ihor Zubovych and the “temporary” appointment as head of SE “Forests of Ukraine”

From 1 July 2026 Ihor Zubovych became acting general director of SE “Forests of Ukraine” — a decision made by the enterprise’s supervisory board, which includes international representatives (according to the official statement of SE “Forests of Ukraine”).

The supervisory board simultaneously instructed an independent audit of financial statements for 2022–2026 years and launched a competition for a full-time head.

Several outlets, including Znaj.ua and Politeka, emphasize that Zubovych’s appointment was only a transitional step before an open competition for the post. How open that competition will really be and whether the personnel conflict around the enterprise will influence it remains an open question.

Does a “grey eminence” of the sector exist and who could it be?

The post from “Vykryvach” hints at the existence of an informal center of influence in the forestry sector capable of affecting personnel decisions bypassing official procedures.

According to several different outlets, the role of such an informal center of influence may be connected to the head of the State Forest Resources Agency Viktor Smal — he allegedly, together with Bolokhovets, sought to change the leadership of “Forests of Ukraine” even after both had been officially suspended from sector affairs (Fakty reported this).

OBOZ.UA even calls Smal a “longtime managerial partner” of Bolokhovets in illegal enrichment cases.

1 July 2026 the Cabinet of Ministers suspended Smal from performing the duties of head of the State Forest Resources Agency and opened disciplinary proceedings against him, which are to be completed by 8 August 2026; temporarily the duties are performed by first deputy Volodymyr Buchko (reported by LIGA.net).

The official reason for the suspension is disciplinary proceedings; whether its timing simply coincides with Zubovych’s appointment or is a mere coincidence of personnel decision schedules remains an open question.

Here one can also recall the version set out in the “Vykryvach” post: according to the channel’s sources, failure to meet the informal financial plan was allegedly explained by Smal’s “obstruction,” after which he was suspended.

At the time of preparing this material StopKor’s editorial team did not find in official sources confirmation of either the completion of the disciplinary proceedings (the deadline set by the Cabinet is 8 August 2026) or its result — therefore the channel’s version about “unconfirmed violations” cannot currently be presented as an established fact.

We deliberately do not construct conspiratorial versions out of thin air here: the facts listed above are already documented by journalists from various independent outlets and by public figures. The version regarding Viktor Smal’s role relies on the “Vykryvach” post citing anonymous sources, and thus is considered a hypothesis for now, not an established fact.

A minister with an unfinished criminal case?

16 July 2026 the Verkhovna Rada approved Taras Vysotskyi as Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food — the ministry that coordinates the State Forest Resources Agency.

At the same time, according to the Chesno project and the media outlet Khab, Vysotskyi assumed the post while having an unresolved suspicion from NABU and SAP since 2023 regarding abuse of official position involving 62 million UAH during procurement of products at inflated prices — a case that also involves former Deputy Minister of Economy Oleksandr Gryban.

This is not an accusation of involvement in the forestry sector, but the factual background on which the minister obtained the authority to influence personnel policy at the State Forest Resources Agency, including the fate of the disciplinary case against Smal and the potential appointment of a new agency head.

Slobozhanskyi forest office: a second scandal in ten months

The regional dimension of the problem is best illustrated by the story of the “Slobozhanskyi forest office” branch, which administers forests in Poltava and Kharkiv regions. In December 2025 journalists from Stop Corruption TV released an investigation into an alleged systemic downgrading of timber grades — when A- or B-grade timber is labeled as the cheapest D grade, and the difference is appropriated by “affiliated” companies.

According to investigators’ estimates, on a single truck the difference could reach 5 cubic meters of timber and 200 thousand UAH, and the scheme was allegedly headed by branch director Ivan Hryshko, according to an informant.

While gathering information, the Stop Corruption team recorded searches being conducted at the Slobozhanskyi forest office branch, after which Ivan Hryshko was dismissed from his position.

In March 2026 another director, Oleksandr Lysenko, a Kharkiv native, became acting head of the branch; he served in the position for only about three months.

25 March 2026 the SBU together with the Office of the Prosecutor General detained him along with the head of the Kharkiv branch of Batkivshchyna Serhii Ponomarenko and the head of the Hutian forestry enterprise Mykola Zhelnovach — on suspicion of taking bribes for shipping elite timber disguised as firewood.

StopKor published a detailed outline of the scheme with specific sums (1,3 million UAH bribe for almost 200 cubic meters of timber, total damages over 1,7 million UAH, bail from 1,33 to 2,66 million UAH) with a comment from the head of the Kharkiv chapter of NGO “Stop Corruption” Serhii Usov, who assessed the chances of a real conviction as low: in his view, only 1,5% of wartime corruption cases end in real convictions.

Notably, the problem is not limited to Slobozhanshchyna: in June 2026 our colleagues at Telegraf reported an investigation into the director of the “Capital Forest Office” Serhii Zaiets regarding possible sham transactions worth tens of millions of hryvnias.

So it appears not to be an isolated regional case but a recurring pattern across different branches of the same state enterprise.

To move the matter from the realm of versions and hypotheses into the realm of verified facts, StopKor’s editorial team sent official information requests to competent anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies, as well as to SE “Forests of Ukraine” and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.

We are awaiting responses and will continue to cover the situation surrounding the forestry sector.

Earlier StopKor wrote that the DBR uncovered a corruption scheme in the Southern Regional Office of SE “Forests of Ukraine,” involving heads of forestry enterprises. According to investigators, they organized illegal logging and collected about 300 thousand hryvnias in “tribute” monthly from subordinates. Two suspects were detained after receiving another bribe and were notified of suspicion.

We also reported that Yurii Bolokhovets, head of SE “Forests of Ukraine,” had a preventive measure chosen in July — detention in custody — because he is suspected of illegal enrichment. The court also allowed release on bail of 91 million. He is currently free — sources reported that the bail was posted but the amount was reduced by 10 times.