Volodymyr Kravets: Millions in Cash and Free Land for “Dobryi Samaryian”

In September 2026, the Telegram channel of Kostiantyn Shpilovyi, Absolution Leaks, published two posts about the head of the Vyshnivets community, Volodymyr Kravets, after which those posts, according to the channel, disappeared approximately an hour later. The materials drew attention to the cash savings declared by Kravets and the official’s ties to the private agricultural enterprise (PAE) “Dobryi Samaryian,” to which the Vyshnivets settlement council in 2021 transferred land plots for lease.

In Kravets’s declaration for 2025, according to published data, it shows nearly 496 thousand UAH in salary for the head of the community and another 360 thousand UAH in income from leasing property. His wife, Lidiia Kravets, who works at “Dobryi Samaryian,” declared more than 652 thousand UAH in income. Kravets himself listed 2 million UAH and $85 thousand UAH in cash, and his wife—an additional 50 thousand UAH and $25 thousand UAH. Kravets leads the Vyshnivets community in Ternopil region. The Central Election Commission records his election as head of the community in the repeat local elections on 28 November 2021. In the electoral documents he was nominated by the political party “Dobryi Samaryian,” of which he is listed as a member. Kravets’s connection to PAE “Dobryi Samaryian” also stems from prior business activity. Official materials about the development of the Vyshnivets community state that he led an agro-industrial enterprise for 15 years, and later moved to work in local self-government. In 2015 the CEC also listed Kravets as director of PAE “Dobryi Samaryian.” Separate attention focuses on the decisions of the Vyshnivets settlement council from 25 October 2021. The Economic Court of Ternopil region found that by decisions No. 1446 and No. 1449 PAE “Dobryi Samaryian” was granted leases of, respectively, 32,6603 ha and 28,2643 ha of unclaimed land shares. The total area under the two decisions amounted to about 60,9 ha. Lease agreements were concluded on 1 November 2021 for a term of seven years, and the rent was set at 10% of the normative monetary valuation. The same court case materials state that before those decisions another enterprise—PE “Zakhidnyi Buh”—had approached the settlement council with a proposal to lease the relevant land plots for seven years at a rate of 12% of the normative monetary valuation. Representatives of that enterprise claimed they had already leased a significant portion of the land blocks in which the plots transferred to “Dobryi Samaryian” were located. According to the court document, “Zakhidnyi Buh” indicated that in some blocks its share of leased land ranged from 54% to 88%. The enterprise also argued that transferring the plots to “Dobryi Samaryian” without holding tenders violated its right to obtain the land on lease. A separate argument by the plaintiff was Volodymyr Kravets’s participation in the council’s vote on the decisions. The plaintiff called the situation a potential conflict of interest, since Kravets previously headed “Dobryi Samaryian.” The court decision notes that PE “Zakhidnyi Buh” linked this fact to the adoption of the land decisions. At the same time, the court did not satisfy the company’s claim and did not declare the settlement council’s decisions invalid. Therefore, the established fact is the existence of such a dispute and the plaintiff’s related arguments, not a court finding of corrupt conduct by Kravets. The land story is not limited to the decisions of 2021. Later decisions transferring land plots to PAE “Dobryi Samaryian” were also published on the official Vyshnivets community website. In particular, in the list of decisions for 2025 there is a document about transferring a land plot to the enterprise, as well as a separate decision approving land management documentation and transferring agricultural land to it. Kravets has previously publicly acknowledged ties to “Dobryi Samaryian” and spoke about the enterprise’s development. In an interview published several years ago, he said the enterprise cultivated nearly 6 thousand ha of land. A political party of the same name was created with his participation, and in 2019 Kravets ran for the Verkhovna Rada from electoral district 164. The property aspect of the community head’s activity has also repeatedly attracted local media attention. In 2021 the outlet “Number One” wrote that Kravets’s family declaration listed nine vehicles, including a Mercedes GL350, Audi A8, a MAN TGX truck and a Renault Trafic. At that time journalists linked much of the property assets to Kravets’s previous activity in the agricultural business. Earlier, Kravets publicly spoke about the dispute over “Dobryi Samaryian” land and inspections related to the use of state land. According to him, after the inspections the issue involved about 10 ha that had been allocated to combatants but had not yet been legally formalized. Those statements by Kravets reflect his public position on the conflict at the time and do not constitute a judicial finding of violations.

Kravets’s appearance among the subjects of Absolution Leaks’s publications may draw additional attention to the Vyshnivets settlement council’s land decisions, the official’s declarations, and his ties to “Dobryi Samaryian.” For assessing possible violations in such cases, key documents remain the decisions adopting the measures, the lease agreements, data from state registers, and court rulings. Also read: Volodymyr Vasyliovych Kravets: business, politics and 61 ha for “one’s own”