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A patron for the camera? A journalist and a media expert criticized Dmytro Verbytsky’s visit to a wounded serviceman — we remind readers of all the missteps of the former deputy prosecutor general
“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” — the famous quote from Anthony (Tony) Stark (Iron Man) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sometimes takes on a very different hue in Ukrainian reality. Former Deputy Prosecutor General Dmytro Verbytsky, who has been surrounded for years by scandals over his wealth, luxury lifestyle and possible draft evasion, tried to present a new image to the public — that of a philanthropist. A video showing him and his companion delivering a television to a wounded serviceman in a hospital was supposed to move viewers. Instead, judging by reactions on social media, it had the opposite effect.
In particular, journalist Kyrylo Danylychenko and media expert Kateryna Zolotaryova published critical posts on Facebook about Verbytsky’s hospital visit.
“A window to the world” delivered in an Audi?
The video posted on Facebook by journalist Kyrylo Danylychenko looks like a classic charity clip: musical soundtrack, hospital ward, a young man named Oleg who, according to the post’s author, has lost the ability to walk, and a new TV — a kind of “window to the world” for him and the whole ward. In the foreground are former prosecutor Dmytro Verbytsky and his companion, whom the journalist ironically called “the Muse and the posh lady.”
What outraged Danylychenko was not so much the fact of Verbytsky’s help as its trappings. He observes that the couple arrived at the hospital in an Audi that the journalist visually estimates to cost about 100 thousand dollars, wearing an expensive watch and a designer handbag.
The post’s author suggests that the price of such a handbag could probably have funded much more serious assistance — from a rehabilitation course to the start of prosthetics. The TV itself, in his view, costs only a few hundred dollars but provides a “great shot” for social media.
The journalist also drew attention to the contrast in the frame: next to the guests stands a doctor who, he writes, saves lives day and night — and who has no status accessories.
Where did the ex-prosecutor get the money for such a lifestyle? Danylychenko reminded readers of previous journalistic investigations.
The journalist’s conclusion is sharp: in his view, the TV is a gift from Verbytsky not so much to the serviceman as to his own Instagram.
“Do renovations in this hospital instead”: reaction from the media community
Media expert Kateryna Zolotaryova reacted even more emotionally to the video. In her post she closely analyzed the visual series in the clip: the expensive car, designer clothing and accessories, a camera operator — and against this background a “poor hospital,” whose walls, she says, have not seen repairs for years, and a TV she estimates to cost roughly 400 dollars.
What outraged the media expert most was how the other participants looked in this staging: the doctor who, she suggests, was likely forced to carry the “gift” in front of the cameras, and the wounded young man.
The expert’s advice is simple and practical: if you really want public charity — hire professionals who will show you how not to turn help into “wild cringe,” or better yet — “do renovations in this hospital.”
Note: the estimates of the cost of the car, accessories and TV cited above are the authors’ estimates, not established facts. But even if they are inaccurate, the question remains: did the wounded man really need that many cameras and such a “luxury” framing for help?
Who is Dmytro Verbytsky and why are there so many questions about him?
Reminder: Dmytro Verbytsky served as Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine and, as StopCor reported, after a series of journalistic exposés he was dismissed in October 2024 — officially “at his own request.” Below is a brief list of what StopCor and other media have previously reported about the official.
A house bought by “power of attorney” and an Odesa “business center”
Back in spring 2024 journalists from Skhemy found that then-Deputy Prosecutor General Dmytro Verbytsky had moved into the elite cottage community “Konyk” near Kyiv.
As investigators from Stop Corruption TV found, the house was purchased via a power of attorney by his nephew — at a price many times below market value — while Verbytsky declared it as rented in his asset declaration.
Embed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwXaumDB0ko
The official’s ex-wife Viktoriya, according to a Stop Corruption investigation, became co-owner of a building in central Odesa. In the declaration the property was listed as a “residential manor-type house,” although, journalists say, the sales listing described it as an office center. Similar real estate on the market was valued at approximately 550 thousand dollars, while the object was reportedly sold for only 7 million hryvnias.
Khrystyna Ilnytska: Birkin, Dior and a Porsche with income of 364 thousand over nine years
In June 2024 StopCor was among the first to report on Verbytsky’s alleged new partner — Khrystyna Ilnytska. According to journalists from online media Stop Corruption TV, at the height of the war she bought a mansion in the same “Konyk” for 2,1 million hryvnias, while similar properties can cost up to 50 million hryvnias; later the house, media say, was re-registered to her mother.
On social media Ilnytska showcased Dior and Birkin bags (the latter nearly 28 thousand dollars) and a Porsche Macan 2023 model year. At the same time, according to information provided to investigators by the tax authority, her total official income since 2015 amounted to only 364 thousand hryvnias. The editorial team also obtained footage showing Verbytsky and Ilnytska visiting one of Kyiv’s most expensive beauty salons for a manicure. More details in StopCor’s video investigation.
Verbytsky later confirmed the relationship with Ilnytska in an interview with Ukrainski Novyny, stressing that it began after his divorce, and called publications about him part of a campaign to discredit him.
Turkish “luxury” and 29 million of possible dubious enrichment
In November 2024 the Stop Corruption TV team traveled undercover to Alanya, Turkey, where Verbytsky’s ex-wife had, while still married, purchased an apartment with a declared value of about 3,9 million hryvnias. According to a representative of the developer interviewed by journalists, prices for similar apartments in the complex start at 170 thousand euros, and it was likely a duplex for 250 thousand euros.
The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) found signs of unlawful enrichment by the former deputy prosecutor general of approximately 29 million hryvnias based on its check.
At a press conference Verbytsky said that internal investigations and international audits did not find violations.
A gym costing 80 thousand per month
After his dismissal, at the beginning of 2025, information appeared online that Verbytsky regularly attended the elite capital club Tsarsky, spending, according to the Telegram channel “Joker,” about 80 thousand hryvnias per month there.
A postgraduate program that could draw police interest
The freshest story concerns Verbytsky’s study in the postgraduate program at the National University “Odesa Polytechnic.” This is likely what Kyrylo Danylychenko alluded to in his post, joking about the ex-prosecutor’s “sudden academic enlightenment.”
As StopCor wrote on 7 October, with reference to KP.UA, the Office of the Educational Ombudsman forwarded materials to the National Police regarding possible violations after appeals from veterans and students.
The matter concerns an investigation into whether postgraduate studies were used to obtain a deferment from mobilization. Whether that study corresponded to a real educational process is now for the police to determine. Important: at this stage it is an inquiry, not an established fact of wrongdoing.
Charity or a PR stunt?
The hospital visit is not the ex-prosecutor’s first experience of public philanthropy. After his dismissal, Verbytsky, as politician Boryslav Bereza wrote on the Censor.NET blog, headed a district branch of the Fatherland party in Odesa and actively engaged in charity — distributing food packages, staging photo sessions with pensioners.
The blog author calls this “window-shopping charity” and an attempt to wash his reputation. That is the author’s evaluative judgment, but the question he raises is valid: where do the funds for such actions come from and who verifies the sources of their financing?
What’s next?
Helping the wounded is undoubtedly good and right, and a TV in the ward will certainly benefit more than one patient. No one questions the value of the assistance itself.
But society has the right to ask other questions. Why would a person against whom the NACP previously found signs of unlawful enrichment amounting to tens of millions choose this kind of video format for “charity”? Wouldn’t it be simpler, as Kateryna Zolotaryova suggests, to renovate that same hospital quietly and without cameras? And might the next step in this career be, for example, a political campaign for which such clips are excellent material?
StopCor is ready to give Dmytro Verbytsky and Khrystyna Ilnytska the opportunity to express their positions regarding the facts stated in this material.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Аланія, "Коник" і Birkin за $28 тисяч: що не так із "благодійністю" експрокурора Вербицького?". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: StopKor.
