Embezzlement in Kyiv’s Social Services: Who Has Been Punished by Court and Who Is Awaiting Verdict

Apparently, the SBU is on the home stretch in investigating the high-profile case of mass “skimming” of funds when providing social services to Kyiv residents in 2022 – 2023 years, including to terminally ill people. Preliminary estimates speak of a loss to the city treasury of about 75 million hryvnias. Last year two defendants who were connected to the activities of LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” — the company that performed this work on behalf of the Kyiv City State Administration’s Department of Social and Veterans Policy — received verdicts. Its current director, Hennadiy Lepsky (pictured on the right in the collage), and owner Ruslan Matveyev were each sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment suspended on probation after admitting guilt and compensating 12 million hryvnias (including by transferring vehicles to the military). Meanwhile, in September 2026 the court closed the case against the alleged organizer of these schemes, Oleksandr Dobrovskyi, who now appears to be abroad. In the near future at least four more people may be punished, among them the director of the aforementioned department of the city administration, Ruslan Svitlyi (pictured on the left in the collage). The fate of two female officials who were his deputies remains unclear — they continue to work in the same department and materials against them have not been forwarded to court.

As KV has learned, the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv region has submitted another indictment to court on the facts of possible mass “skimming” of budget funds by officials of the Kyiv City State Administration’s Department of Social and Veterans Policy (KCSA) with the participation of other persons.

The corresponding investigation was carried out within criminal proceedings No. 22024101110001310 dated 16 December 2024. For some defendants it has already been completed, while for others it appears to be ongoing.

On 17 November 2025 the Obolonskyi District Court issued a verdict regarding two defendants in this case — Hennadiy Lepsky and Ruslan Matveyev (formally the verdict was issued in proceeding No. 22025101110001111, which had been separated from the above-mentioned case). The court then approved plea agreements reached between these defendants and the city prosecutor’s office. These individuals were involved in the activities of LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” — a company through which officials of the Department of Social and Veterans Policy of the KCSA allegedly embezzled and misappropriated budget funds.

Lepsky was found guilty of crimes under six (!) articles of the Criminal Code (CC) of Ukraine, namely: part 5 of art. 191 (misappropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it by abusing official position, committed on a particularly large scale or by an organized group), part 3 and part 4 of art. 358 (forgery of documents committed repeatedly or by prior conspiracy of a group of persons, as well as use of a forged document), part 4 of art. 190 (fraud on a large scale), part 3 of art. 27 and part 1 of art. 366 (organization of official forgery) and part 3 of art. 27 and part 2 of art. 366 (organization of official forgery that caused grave consequences). For these crimes Hennadiy Lepsky received 8 years of imprisonment, which the court immediately replaced with a suspended (i.e., “conditional”) sentence of 3 years. He was also fined 12,7 thousand hryvnias.

Additionally, pursuant to the plea agreement, Hennadiy Lepsky transferred his vehicles to the territorial community of Kyiv as compensation for damages — namely a ZAZ A08 bus and Mercedes-Benz 316 and Fiat Fiorino cars. In addition, he transferred three more Fiats to a military unit of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. All this property is valued at 10 million hryvnias.

Ruslan Matveyev was found guilty of criminal offenses provided for in the above-mentioned part 5 of art. 191, part 1 of art. 366 and part 2 of art. 366 of the CC of Ukraine. This individual voluntarily reimbursed 2 million hryvnias — apparently in cash by transferring funds to the city budget (this is an assumption, since the verdict does not contain exact details. – KV). His punishment was analogous: 8 years’ “imprisonment” replaced by 3 years “conditionally,” plus a fine of 12,7 thousand hryvnias. Lepsky and Matveyev were also to reimburse the state for the costs of conducting court examinations — 18,2 thousand hryvnias each.

Another indictment in the mentioned proceedings was submitted to the court in the summer of 2026. It was initially directed to the Solomianskyi District Court of Kyiv, which later forwarded the indictment to the Shevchenkivskyi District Court. In this “portion of the case” charges were prepared against four persons: former director of the Department of Social and Veterans Policy of the KCSA Ruslan Svitlyi, and also Tetiana Lipenko, Maksym and Tetiana Zaichenko (their positions are currently unknown, but it appears that one or all of them were private entrepreneurs (FOPs) who figured in this case. – KV).

It is currently known that three of the above-listed defendants are accused of committing the offense provided for in part 4 of art. 191 of the CC of Ukraine — misappropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it by abusing official position, committed on a large scale or under martial law. Another defendant is charged with the aforementioned part 5 of art. 191, as well as parts 1 and 2 of art. 366 of the CC of Ukraine.

On 4 September 2026 the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv closed criminal proceedings No. 22025101110001077 against Oleksandr Dobrovskyi (this proceeding was also separated from case No. 22024101110001310) — the SBU had considered this person the organizer of the schemes described below. He was accused of committing an offense under part 5 of art. 191 of the CC of Ukraine.

The grounds for closing the case were named as statutes of limitations having expired — allegedly, “the pre-trial investigation period was missed by the prosecution by at least four months and one day, and the indictment was sent to the court on the 123-th day outside the procedural term.” Apparently one reason for this was that Dobrovskyi was (or still is) outside Ukraine and was even declared internationally wanted by law enforcement in the framework of the mentioned proceedings.

At the same time, the fate of two other figures in the proceedings — the deputies of the former director of the Department of Social and Veterans Policy of the KCSA — is unknown. Media reported that they are Liubov Riako and Halyna Dovhanchyn. They also received suspicions from law enforcement last year in March 2025 under part 5 of art. 191 of the CC of Ukraine, but it appears that indictment papers have not yet been filed against these women — at least KV could not find information about this in open sources.

What the defendants “did”

In the “initial” case, law enforcement learned that after the Kyiv City Council adopted the city target program “Care. Toward Kyiv Residents” for 2022–2024 years (it was approved by decision No. 2726/2767 dated 7 October 2021), Oleksandr Dobrovskyi “realized the possibility of unlawfully obtaining budget funds by reimbursing them for allegedly provided social services.” According to the investigation, to do this the citizen born in 1966 developed a criminal plan that envisaged systematically providing social services at prices knowingly higher than their actual cost — followed by obtaining compensatory payments from the city budget from the Department of Social and Veterans Policy of the KCSA.

Law enforcement says Dobrovskyi then colluded with officials of the mentioned department who had the authority to organize and conduct tender procedures and to subsequently control their execution, as well as with controlled business entities. In the case of the Department of Social and Veterans Policy, this involved its then-head Ruslan Svitlyi and two unnamed deputies of that official (recall that media reported Liubov Riako and Halyna Dovhanchyn. – KV).

Soon, investigators found that one of the department’s employees invited to the department’s office on Liubomyr Huzar Street 7 an employee of LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” — namely the above-mentioned Hennadiy Lepsky. The official informed him of planned competitions to select providers of social services and of pre-set economically unjustified and inflated prices for such services. According to the investigation, Lepsky was also told about the real possibility of ensuring victory for LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” in the tenders “provided the latter agreed to participate in the proposed criminal scheme and to further cooperate with the department’s top management.” Investigators established that Hennadiy Lepsky agreed to these conditions.

The next stage, according to the SBU, was a meeting between Hennadiy Lepsky and Oleksandr Dobrovskyi that took place in the office of that same department and was arranged by one of the two deputies of its director. At that meeting the alleged organizer voiced an additional condition for participation in the scheme — mandatory return of 25% of the compensation amount received from the department for provided social services. According to law enforcement, after receiving this information Hennadiy Lepsky met with the then-director of “Mitsne Zdorovia,” Ruslan Matveyev. As a result of that meeting, the SBU reports, both “agreed on implementing the criminal plan.”

According to the investigation, the essence of the scheme was that LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” would be the contractor providing the social services, while certain business entities would assist it by entering into formal contracts for renting real estate, parking spaces, vehicles, and for purchasing food, rehabilitation equipment, and household goods. However, in reality the provision of these social services was either not planned at all, or the volume and quality of such services significantly did not meet contract terms.

Soon LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” submitted tender proposals to the Department of Social and Veterans Policy of the KCSA to participate in tenders to determine providers of the aforementioned social services. The SBU emphasizes that unidentified officials of the mentioned department helped prepare these documents — so that the proposals listed the “correct” data regarding the company’s material and technical resources and number of employees, which in turn would help the company win the tenders.

Ultimately, according to the SBU, in January 2022 and February 2023 agreements were concluded between the Department of Social and Veterans Policy of the KCSA and LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” — 5 contracts (according to other data — 6 agreements) — concerning “provision of day care social services for persons with mental disorders,” “provision of palliative care social services” and “provision of social services.” In two contracts the cost of one palliative care social service was set at 617,58 hryvnias per person-hour, in two others — 125,96 hryvnias, and in one of the latter contracts from February 2023 the cost was 1 267,69 hryvnias. The SBU considers such figures economically unjustified and significantly above the market value of the corresponding services.

Subsequently, according to law enforcement, LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” together with an unnamed figure in this case found and engaged business entities with whom it concluded deliberately fictitious contracts for vehicle rental, real estate rental, and supply of goods. In addition, two private entrepreneurs were recruited directly by the director of the Department of Social and Veterans Policy of the KCSA, Ruslan Svitlyi — with whom these businessmen agreed to conclude financial and economic contracts with LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” “for the provision of purported services for the purchase of goods and the rental of vehicles.” Apparently among all these business entities was the aforementioned trio “Tetiana Lipenko – Maksym Zaichenko – Tetiana Zaichenko.”

Specifically, the SBU reports that with one of these FOPs in August 2022 and October 2023 LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” concluded contracts to rent a Fiat Nuovo Doblo car, in May 2022 a VAZ 211140 car, and in January 2024 a Citroen Berlingo. Also in September 2022 the company signed an agreement with that entrepreneur for the supply of medical products, personal protective equipment, disinfectants and hygiene products. In turn, with the second FOP in August and October 2023 contracts were concluded for renting a VAZ 211140 car and for supplying medical products and disinfectants.

“These contracts were not intended to actually fulfill the obligations provided for in their terms, but were an instrument to legalize money obtained criminally and a cover for the illegal activities of members of the organized group,” states one of the court rulings in the proceedings.

Further, according to the investigation, LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” submitted acceptance-transfer acts for social services to the Department of Social and Veterans Policy of the KCSA, based on which the company received funds from Kyiv’s budget. As the SBU notes, Ruslan Svitlyi and one of his deputies approved those acts without carrying out checks, thereby, quote, facilitating their use as grounds for transferring budget funds. According to the investigation, the funds received were cashed out by Hennadiy Lepsky and Ruslan Matveyev through banking institutions: part they appropriated, and part they transferred to the aforementioned organizer of the scheme.

At the same time, it is currently difficult to determine exactly how much the Department of Social and Veterans Policy of the KCSA transferred to LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia.” At the pre-trial investigation stage different figures were cited in various sources (in court rulings and law enforcement statements) — sums of 109 million and 149 million hryvnias. In the Lepsky–Matveyev verdict the numbers are written so chaotically and unstructured that it’s hard to make sense of them.

The situation is similar with the possible size of the damage inflicted on the city budget as a result of these agreements. At the time the first suspicions were notified, in March 2025 law enforcement named the sum of 57,7 million hryvnias as actually lost by the budget. In July 2025, when law enforcement detained Ruslan Svitlyi in this case, the reported damage was 75 million hryvnias. The cited Lepsky–Matveyev verdict also includes different figures for, apparently, different episodes — 10,6 million, and 11,5 million, and 13,2 million, and 37 million, etc. However, if you sum these losses, you again get approximately 75 million hryvnias, which was mentioned above. So that appears to be a workable reference.

Considering that Hennadiy Lepsky reimbursed 10 million hryvnias and his business partner Ruslan Matveyev reimbursed 2 million, it is likely that those are the amounts of losses officially attributed to these figures. The remaining funds, presumably, law enforcement and the court will “allocate” among other suspects and defendants — of course, if those individuals receive guilty verdicts in court.

In addition, in the same case Hennadiy Lepsky was found by the court to have obtained “fake disability.” The investigation established that it was issued in November 2022 by the Dniprovskyi interdistrict Medical-Social Expert Commission (MSEC) on the basis of forged certificates from KNP “Kyiv City Clinical Hospital No. 11”, KNP “Kyiv City Clinical Hospital No. 6” and the State Institution “Institute of Neurosurgery.” Later Lepsky submitted an application to the Pension Fund for disability pension, which was granted. As a result — according to the investigation — from November 2022 to January 2025 this citizen illegally received and appropriated 424,7 thousand hryvnias in such pension payments.

It is also notable that, apparently using the VLK certificate, MSEC documents and an extract from a medical record, Hennadiy Lepsky tried to leave Ukraine. These documents were found by law enforcement in a Porsche Cayenne of 2023 year of manufacture on which Lepsky attempted to travel toward the EU on 18 March 2025 through the Ugryniv–Dolgobyczów border crossing in Lviv region. That is where he was detained by law enforcement.

At the initial stages of the investigation the SBU considered Hennadiy Lepsky to be the organizer of the entire scheme, not Oleksandr Dobrovskyi. But later this version somehow changed — possibly because investigators found other data about the circumstances of these crimes. Meanwhile, the KNP “Clinical Hospital “Psychiatry” — where Lepsky worked as deputy director for economic affairs at the time of the verdict — provided him with an impeccable reference that his lawyers later used in court. Among other things, the document stated that Lepsky repeatedly stayed at work at the verbal request of management after working hours to resolve problems during a crisis situation and that he is characterized as “friendly, restrained, even-tempered, affable and sincere, and endowed with a good sense of humor.”

What is known about the defendants

According to the analytical system YouControl, Kyiv’s LLC “Mitsne Zdorovia” was registered in September 2020. Its founder and ultimate beneficiary is the same Ruslan Matveyev. Until January 2026 he was the company’s director, after which the aforementioned Hennadiy Lepsky headed it and still manages that LLC. About Valeriy Lepsky, besides his work at KNP “Clinical Hospital “Psychiatry,” it is known that in 2017–2019 he worked as deputy director of the Kyiv City Health Department and head of the economics department of the same structural unit of the city administration.

The personality of Oleksandr Dobrovskyi is also very interesting. According to Mind, he is a cousin (according to other data — a second cousin) of Mykhailo Radutskyi — former head of the Kyiv clinic “Boris,” former advisor to the head of the KCSA Vitali Klitschko on health and social protection issues (in 2014) and a current People’s Deputy of the IX convocation of the Verkhovna Rada (elected from “Servant of the People,” he heads the parliamentary committee on national health, medical care and medical insurance). Open sources mention that Dobrovskyi allegedly organized drug procurements for the city government under “budget” orders back in the Leonid Chernovetskyi era, although his exact role is not clearly known. In addition, the same media outlet Mind reported possible business ties between Oleksandr Dobrovskyi and the family of Herman Fistal — a well-known pharmaceutical businessman.