Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Former MPs, a case worth 171 million, and spare parts for the Armed Forces: how does a company from Kholodov’s orbit stay on the defense market despite scandals and ties to Medvedchuk’s family?
A business within the circle of Medvedchuk’s ally remains one of the most visible suppliers to the domestic defense industry in the fifth year of the full-scale war. A manufacturer of spare parts for heavy and military equipment, despite a trail of scandals, appears to continue receiving multi-million contracts. On 24 October the Antikor portal reported this. Among the company’s connections uncovered by journalists is the entourage of former Servant of the People MP Andriy Kholodov, who has long been linked to the family of Putin’s godfather.
How can an entity with such a reputation still have access to budget funds — and isn’t it time for law enforcement to look into its activities? Especially given its proximity to Andriy Kholodov, whom the media outlet Censor links to the Medvedchuk family.
According to open-source data, Prom-Techno Group LLC is a domestic enterprise specializing in the production of specialized equipment, mechanical engineering, and fulfillment of defense orders (associated with the brand Tehimpex).
According to VB.UA, the company’s co-founders are Yuriy Kravchenko, Dmytro But, and Bohdan Vysotskyi.
Antikor reports that in the chain of companies connected to owners But, Kravchenko, and Vysotskyi there are entrepreneurs the outlet calls former business partners of Kholodov. In addition, the registration address of one of the co-owners in this chain, the portal claims, exactly matches the Kyiv address of Kholodov’s wife, Kateryna Shakhovska.
For example, Dmytro But’s business partner is Oksana Romanova. Oksana and Serhiy Romanov are also owners or co-owners of Master Trade, Albali, and Apartment Group. Among the co-owners of the latter is mentioned Yelyzaveta Boyko.
The Antikor portal notes that her registration address in Kyiv on Ivana Mazepa Street exactly matches the registration address of Kateryna Shakhovska — the wife of former MP Andriy Kholodov.
The actual scale of state contracts can’t be assessed at present: the outlet says a significant portion of information about related enterprises is closed by Cabinet of Ministers’ decrees — the public cannot see contract amounts or ultimate beneficiaries in open sources and registers.
Recall that in 2019 journalists from Skhemy found an estate in Vienna worth €6 million registered to Shakhovska. According to Skhemy, the couple’s children were baptized by Medvedchuk’s wife, Oksana Marchenko, and in 2020 Kholodov was spotted at Medvedchuk’s stepson’s wedding.
That same 2019 Skhemy traced the MP’s family connections to the sale of cigarettes in Kyiv kiosks and his support for an amendment favorable to retail tobacco merchants.
In July 2020 the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) drew up a protocol against Kholodov for a corruption offense. According to the agency, the MP, in a conflict of interest, appealed to the NABU director regarding the investigation of the “tobacco amendment.” Kholodov himself called this political pressure.
In 2021 Bihus.info found that Kholodov’s assistant was a business partner of his wife, who received more than 700 thousand UAH from the budget.
And in 2023 Skhemy discovered the MP did not appear in the Rada for six months while abroad. After the publications, Kholodov resigned his mandate and Servant of the People expelled him from the party. According to Antikor, he has not returned to Ukraine since then.
In the context of Prom-Techno Group LLC’s business ties, Antikor mentions a criminal case about the supply of poor-quality spare parts for AFU armored vehicles worth 171 million UAH.
As the portal ArmyInform reported, in May 2026 Attorney General Ruslan Kravchenko said the case had been sent to court: at the start of the full-scale invasion, a private company received two state contracts for more than 171 million UAH, but the spare parts, including BMP engine cooling tubes, could not be used as intended.
According to our colleagues at Ekonomichna Pravda, the damage to the state exceeded 126 million UAH, and the total amount of transactions with signs of money laundering reached 73 million UAH.
Important: the Office of the Prosecutor General did not officially disclose the name of the private company. However, Antikor points out that Tehimpex specifically specializes in the repair and maintenance of armored vehicles.
Through Tehimpex, Antikor reports, contacts can also be traced to former MP Andriy Derkach — a figure on the NSDC sanctions list whom NABU and SAP suspect of state treason.
What do security and law enforcement agencies think about such ties of a major spare-parts supplier to the defense industry? There are more questions than answers. Did the Ministry of Defense and the SBU check the ultimate beneficiaries and the supplier’s connections before signing contracts? Did NABU and SAP verify whether figures in the poor-quality spare parts case overlap with this business circle? Is it possible that a company from Andriy Kholodov’s orbit, a long-time associate of Medvedchuk, still receives multi-million state contracts?
While the contracts are classified by government decrees and competent authorities remain silent, the secrecy introduced in the name of state security risks becoming a convenient cover for those profiting from the war.
So the main question remains open: who allows a company with such a history of connections to continue receiving millions from the defense budget?
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "На тлі скандалу з неякісними запчастинами: як компанія з орбіти екснардепа Холодова отримує оборонні замовлення?". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: StopKor.
