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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The Sobornyi District Court of Dnipro denied the seizure of the property of Albina Kusheleva’s son — the director of one of the departments of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration. The official is a suspect in a case regarding the alleged misappropriation of budget funds during tenders.
This was reported by “Realna hazeta.” According to the publication, the SBU and the prosecutor’s office plan to file an appeal.
The hearing took place on 15 September. Journalists were initially allowed into the courtroom, but an SBU investigator asked to continue the proceedings in closed session. He explained that the court would examine materials whose disclosure could harm the investigation.
According to the investigator, law enforcement is still establishing all possible accomplices. In his view, premature disclosure of information could allow them to coordinate actions, hide evidence, or influence other participants in the case. The prosecutor’s office supported the request to close the hearing.
The defense insisted on an open hearing
Kusheleva’s lawyer, Oleksandr Tymchenko, objected. He pointed out that law enforcement had already published amounts, tender circumstances, and fragments of conversations obtained during covert investigative actions.
The defense proposed leaving the hearing open at least until the court began directly examining the investigation materials. In response, the investigator said that some of those materials had not previously been disclosed.
Kusheleva herself also spoke in favor of an open hearing. She reminded the court of the publication of photos and videos of her arrest and said she did not understand the origin of the amount of 5 million hryvnias that featured in SBU reports.
Investigative judge Olha Konoplenko nevertheless closed the hearing. She explained that the motion contained information about other individuals, the disclosure of which could affect the investigation. Journalists were asked to leave the courtroom.
As a result of the closed hearing, the court denied the prosecution’s request to seize the official’s son’s property.
Earlier Tymchenko told “Realna hazeta” that the son’s accounts had been blocked as part of the investigation. According to the lawyer, the man works for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the funds in the accounts are his official income.
What is known about the case
Proceedings were opened on 12 May 2026. The case is being investigated by the Main Directorate of the SBU in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Suspicions were issued to Albina Kusheleva, her deputy Andrii Zaitsev, and an entrepreneur. They are accused of misappropriating property through abuse of office under martial law — under part 4 of article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
One of the episodes concerns the procurement of advertising and marketing services for more than 3,2 million hryvnias. According to the investigation, participants may have created the appearance of competition so that a preselected entrepreneur would win the tender. In a separate episode, law enforcement links the alleged misappropriation of budget funds to 192 thousand hryvnias. The defense disputes this version.
On 5 September, Kusheleva was placed in pretrial detention for 60 days with the possibility of posting 266 240 hryvnias bail. Her deputy was assigned bail in the amount of 199 680 hryvnias.
All figures are suspects. Their guilt has not been established by a court.
Viacheslav Husakov
“Realna hazeta”
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Суд не дозволив арештувати майно сина посадовиці Луганської ОВА Кушелевої". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Zaraz.
