12 billion under the guise of caring for veterans: how fugitive Yuriy Holik and the Dnipro mafia are exploiting a new budget feeding trough

While international scandals surround stories of Ukrainian businessmen, including Vadym Yermolayev, who came under scrutiny after an explosion in Monaco, another native of Dnipro — former advisor to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk OVA and curator of the “Great Construction” project Yuriy Holik — continues to profit in Ukraine.

From curator of the “Great Construction” to political émigré under investigation

Yuriy Holik, who was born in Luhansk in 1977, tried his hand in media and advertising before, in 2015, he began working at the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration together with 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. Numerous scandals and accusations of inflated prices for works soon erupted around the curator.

Ultimately, NABU during its investigation determined that the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region’s friend, fitness trainer Yana, also turned out to be the owner of the construction company Budinvest Engineering. Part of the budget funds, according to investigators, were stolen through price inflation. Yuriy Holik was even listed as a suspect in this case, but in June 2024 the curator of “Great Construction” left Ukraine and reportedly went to Austria.

For almost 2 years after that Yuriy Holik “behaved quietly,” but now the situation has changed.

Google under attack over Yuriy Holik

Starting at the end of June 2026, some Ukrainian information sites began reporting a wave of complaints to Google alleging copyright violations on a number of publications. Most of the challenged materials are tied to journalistic investigations that mention Yuriy Holik.

As one of these sites, Ukrrudprom, claims, all articles from 2022 onward 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 that were complained about contain borrowed content that would violate anyone’s rights — all texts are original editorial material. And, the publication believes, this may indicate an attempt at mass removal of unwanted content under the pretext of alleged “copyright protection” — a tool that has increasingly been used recently to pressure independent media.

At the same time, since 2024 Yuriy Holik, through his lawyers, has been trying to obtain the opening of a criminal proceeding against NABU detectives under Article 387 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Disclosure of data on operative-search activities.” However, the Appellate Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court has repeatedly denied this.

But why, 2 years after his “flight” from Ukraine, has Yuriy Holik 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 for Veterans launched a program to build new spaces according to 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 café.

To create 22 such spaces the budget has already allocated 1 billion 546 million hryvnias, i.e. about 75 million hryvnias per building, which for 160 such facilities could amount to around 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.

Two organizations conducted expertise of the adapted projects: LLC UK Ekspertyza and LLC Nova-Ekspert, spending less than a month on each object. They hurried on the tenders as well — in all seven projects in 2025 only one contractor participated in the bids and received the orders, and the tender conditions effectively made it impossible for others to take part. For example, in Kryvyi Rih they required confirmation of annual revenue at the level of the expected contract value (over 130 million hryvnias) — and a personal inspection of the object signed by the customer. In Uzhhorod, in addition to the inspection, they added non-mandatory quality certificates. At the same time, the companies that ultimately received the contracts were either newly created or had insignificantly small experience. The contractor in Kremenchuk had experience conducting work for 2 million hryvnias, but consecutively received contracts worth 132 million hryvnias.

Construction of the seven veteran spaces began in the autumn of 2025. It then became clear that the estimates significantly overstated the cost of materials. 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, making comparison with market prices impossible.

It is known that the documentation was ordered by the charitable foundation “Songs Born in the ATO” from a private entrepreneur from Zakarpattia, Yuriy Erdeli. But the foundation’s founder, Volodymyr Yurchenko, could not explain why a charitable organization was commissioning construction documentation for a state program. The foundation’s director, Yuriy Shulyka, referred to a call from some people at the ministry, but did not disclose details.

As NGLMedia emphasized, the reason for turning specifically to the charity fund “Songs Born in the ATO” was the figure of its founder Volodymyr Yurchenko. During Valentyn Reznichenko’s tenure, he was his deputy.

The curator of this program at the Ministry for Veterans is Deputy Minister Viktor Baidachnyi, who, according to his official biography on the ministry’s website, worked in the Dnipropetrovsk ODA from 2018 to 2022. His workplace was the Office for Veteran Policy, which at that time was headed by Nataliya Shulyka, whose husband Yuriy Shulyka is the director of the charitable foundation “Songs Born in the ATO.” The latter, by the way, is also connected to Yuriy Holik, who at one time called the festivals “Songs Born in the ATO” of the eponymous fund “ours.” Holik confirmed his connection to the festival to NGLMedia journalists.

Note that in the Prozorro public procurement system there are hundreds of tenders and auctions for the construction and arrangement 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; a capital renovation of premises allocated for it costs the same amount or more. Finally, there is also their equipment, for which funds are also allocated from the state and local budgets that finance the program by 40%.

Criminal case of the patron and bankruptcy of Ukrainian business — how Yuriy Holik lives

Note that the ex-curator of Great Construction, who is abroad, clearly needs money, because judging by open data his business in Ukraine is collapsing. Holik owned a 25% stake in LLC Kreatyvna Krayina (activity — consulting on commercial activity and management, charter capital — 1000 hryvnias), which organized a number of coworking spaces. Amid power problems after strikes by the Russian Federation, in 2023 the business showed wonders — almost 39 million hryvnias. Revenue after 1,8 million hryvnias 2022-th, 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 Kreatyvny Shtat Hulyver, in which through Kreatyvna Krayina Yuriy Holik owns 10%, is completely bankrupt. One of the co-owners of Hulyver is even suing the other founders over a debt to one of his companies of 10,4 million hryvnias. Presumably, Holik’s interest in creating veteran spaces worth billions of hryvnias is linked to these financial problems. The shift from a coworking for freelancers to creating veteran spaces funded by billions in budget hryvnias seems quite logical.

All this points to serious financial problems for the ex-curator of “Great Construction.” It’s hard to believe that he once literally returned billions. For example, just the 1 project — construction of a water pipeline in Kryvyi Rih, initiated after the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP at 7,7 billion hryvnias, could have been inflated by 3 billion. In addition, the investigation found that the scheme participants legalized goods and materials worth 187 million hryvnias and underreported VAT payment by another 20,5 million hryvnias. One of the key figures named is Yuriy Holik, known as the public coordinator of “Great Construction.” He was previously mentioned in a case concerning disclosure of pre-trial investigation data by NABU.

But Holik’s real problem is the case of LLC Budinvest Engineering (activity — construction of roads and highways, charter capital — 1 million 50 thousand hryvnias). According to investigators, Dnipropetrovsk ODA officials 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.

The twice-ex head of the Dnipropetrovsk ODA, Valentyn Reznichenko, is directly listed as a suspect in this case. As the case materials state, over almost 2 years Budinvest made payments of 3,75 million hryvnias to LLC Sevent Consulting Group when its director was Oleksandr Reznichenko, son of the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region. At the same time, Valentyn Reznichenko himself is the owner of the company, meaning there was an obvious conflict of interest. Since 2024 Yuriy Holik has been involved in this case as well, and this, in addition to the case about leaks from anti-corruption agencies, forced him to leave Ukraine. Note that recently, after a long hiatus, shadows of former “high and mighty” figures have increasingly appeared in Ukraine’s information space. For example, Viktor Medvedchuk, who is allegedly being helped by Oleksandr Spektor.