“Novopecherski Lypky,” the fugitive’s Porsche, and 18 thousand hectares for hunting: Bihus.Info journalists found secret assets of Minister Vitaliy Kim – Center for Investigative Journalism

The family of the new head of the Ministry for Veterans Affairs, Vitaliy Kim, may be using a number of assets that are missing from his declarations. These include, in particular, a new apartment and parking space in the elite Novopecherski Lypky residential complex in Kyiv, a Porsche, and 18 thousand hectares of hunting grounds in the Cherkasy region.

This is reported in an investigation by Bihus.Info.

Vitaliy Kim came into politics from business, including development. In 2019 he worked in the Servant of the People campaign headquarters in the Mykolaiv region, and in November of 2020 he was appointed head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration. He gained popularity at the start of the full-scale invasion thanks to his defense of Mykolaiv region and his daily addresses that began with the well-known phrase “Good evening, we are from Ukraine.” This July Kim became the minister for veterans affairs. Journalists therefore decided to check the lifestyle of the new member of the government.

Interestingly, the most expensive assets journalists found are absent from the politician’s declaration. For example, back in the summer of 2025 the company of Vitaliy Kim’s wife, Media Group, purchased a large apartment of over one hundred square meters in the Novopecherski Lypky complex in Kyiv. The firm also bought a parking space there at the same time. According to the journalists’ calculations, the apartment without renovation and the parking spot at that time could have cost approximately 350 thousand dollars. However, according to the YouControl analytical system, the company’s public financial reporting was zero or entirely missing for years.

Journalists found that Kim and members of his family may have used the housing in the mentioned complex. At the end of August, Bihus.Info spotted a Volkswagen Touareg with cover plates in the Novopecherski Lypky parking lot, similar to the one the minister rents. A few days later the same vehicle left the complex, and a man resembling the head of the Ministry for Veterans Affairs was in the passenger seat.

Additionally, in the parking space owned by Yuliya Kim’s firm in Novopecherski Lypky, journalists also noticed a Porsche Macan, which the woman received a fine for back in 2024. The car is not listed in Kim’s declarations and is registered to the construction company S-Develop of Roman Serbenov. Journalists have previously reported how this developer abandoned construction of residential complexes in Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia and left for Poland. According to Kim, Serbenov worked as a director in his construction companies in Ukraine. They also jointly headed the Mykolaiv basketball club.

In a comment to Bihus.Info, Kim said that he does not use the apartment or the parking space in Novopecherski Lypky. He said the apartment is registered to his wife’s company. The firm reportedly took it on credit. When journalists asked about the company’s “zero” financial reporting and its ability to repay the loan, Kim replied that “the financial reporting is with Yuliya’s sole proprietorship, and the money was also in the declaration.”

At the same time, according to journalists, Kim’s savings in the 2025 declaration have not decreased; on the contrary, they increased by about 6,5 million hryvnias compared to 2024. Furthermore, the official annual family income for 2025 amounted to almost 7 million hryvnias before taxes, which means they managed to set aside almost the entire annual family income. There is no record of housing expenditures in the declaration.

Regarding the car, the official claims his wife rented the vehicle for less than 180 days, so the car should not have been required to appear in the declaration when he left the regional administration. He also added that before being rented the car was not in constant use but “periodically” used. At the same time, Serbenov told journalists that his company purchased the Porsche back in 2022 and leased it to Kim’s wife.

“180 days ago” Vitaliy Kim also explained the appearance near Novopecherski Lypky of another vehicle — a second VW Touareg that belongs to Kim’s ex-wife, Olga. Earlier Kim rented this vehicle from a Mykolaiv firm, and then it passed into the ownership of his ex-wife. In recent months the Touareg received fines and appeared near the Kyiv complex. The latter may additionally confirm that the Kims lived in Lypky, at least at the time the car was recorded. Yet the official himself says his ex-wife is currently outside Ukraine and that he does not use the car.

An interesting situation has also developed with another asset. This concerns the Kaniv Left-Bank Hunting Enterprise, located in the Cherkasy region and managing 18 thousand hectares of hunting grounds. Last summer the enterprise gained two new owners who, according to journalists, may be nominal. The thing is, Vitaliy Kim has repeatedly said in interviews with various media that hunting is his hobby. And in the summer of 2025 the Kaniv Left-Bank Hunting Enterprise changed owners. In particular, a share was acquired by Oleksandr Stepanov — a long-time business partner of Kim who for years also appeared in joint companies with both the former and current wives of the new head of the Ministry for Veterans Affairs. Stepanov told journalists that he does not like hunting, “hasn’t properly been to this hunting base even once,” and does not know his new business partner Andriy Galkin. A person with the same full name was an assistant to MP Roman Ivanisov.

At the same time, Kim told Bihus.Info that he met Roman Ivanisov back in 2020 — and that this meeting took place while hunting. The official also said he has visited the mentioned hunting base for hunting several times — allegedly “at the invitation of friends.” Stepanov added that Kim may not inform him about his visits to the base, since he may arrive with people “he would not want to publicize.” According to journalists, Kim may have been accompanied there by Davyd Arakhamia, the parliamentary leader of Servant of the People. Overall, the situation around the hunting enterprise suggests that Stepanov and Galkin may be only nominal owners of an asset acquired in the interests of third parties.