Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
In the capital, the fate of a land plot on Mykhailivska Street,18, 18-V is being decided. LLC “Stolitsa”, which owns the nonresidential buildings located on this land, is attempting in court to “force” the Kyiv City Council to conclude a lease agreement for this land.
The company, which is part of the circle around controversial developer Vladyslava Molchanova, claims that the city authorities have not adopted the draft decision on this land allocation for five years, which they say is unlawful. In reality, that draft decision was rejected early on by the city council’s lawyers because the territory in question lies within protective zones (including the historic area of the UNESCO buffer zone), and the buildings located there have the status of cultural heritage objects. Nevertheless, that document was brought before the deputies in May of 2023, but the vote failed. However, that did not stop the Kyiv City Council last year from obtaining a court ruling to recover more than 6 million hryvnias from “Stolitsa” — funds that the LLC did not pay to the city budget due to the lack of formalized lease relations for the land. Whether this will ultimately help “Stolitsa” obtain the desired land allocation through the courts remains to be seen.
A hearing of the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal in case No.910/439/26 is scheduled for 26 November 2026.
A panel of judges must consider LLC “Stolitsa”’s appeal against the decision of the Commercial Court of Kyiv of 17 June 2026, which denied the company’s claim. The business entity demanded that the court declare concluded a lease agreement for a plot of 0,31 ha on Mykhailivska Street,18, 18-V in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv.
Background
Back on 30 September 2021, LLC “Stolitsa” applied to the Kyiv City Council with a request to formalize the right to use the plot on Mykhailivska Street,18, 18-V. Almost a month later, on 22 October, then-deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration (KSCA) for exercise of self-government powers Petro Olenych and the Department of Land Resources of the KSCA registered draft decision No.08/231-3819/PR in the city council regarding the transfer of this land into lease to the specified company.
The document clarified that the plot has cadastral number 8000000000:82:013:0006, and LLC “Stolitsa” plans to lease it for 10 years for the operation and maintenance of two nonresidential buildings (purpose — “for construction and maintenance of administrative buildings, office buildings of companies engaged in entrepreneurial activities related to generating profit”). The draft decision also stated that, according to Kyiv’s General Plan, functionally the land belongs to the territory of medium- and low-rise residential development. The draft decision further noted that two nonresidential buildings with a total area of 2,4 thousand sq.m. are located on the land, and their owner is LLC “Stolitsa”.
Plot on the map
Subsequently, on 28 September 2022, the document was effectively rejected by the Legal Support Department of the Kyiv City Council — lawyers returned it without approval. The reason was that both the land plot and the buildings on it have protected status.
The city council’s legal department pointed out that on 13 September 2021 the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy informed the city municipality that the land is located in Kyiv’s historic area, within the buffer zone of the World Heritage property UNESCO “Kyiv: Saint Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra,” and within the nationally significant archaeological monument “Cultural Layer of Yaroslav’s City.”
Also, according to the lawyers, the Ministry of Culture stated that the building on Mykhailivska Street, 18 is registered as a newly discovered cultural heritage object — pursuant to the order of the Main Department for Protection of Cultural Heritage of the KSCA dated 25 June 2011. In view of these facts, the Legal Support Department believed that any works on this territory, among other things, must be carried out only after coordination with cultural heritage protection authorities and subject to informing the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
Among other things, the city council’s lawyers noted that the Department for Protection of Cultural Heritage of the KSCA, in a letter regarding the draft decision, clarified that the land contains the cultural heritage object of Kyiv “Urban Manor.” Its composition includes a revenue house (Mykhailivska St., 18), which housed the Kyiv Real School in 1873–1877, as well as a residential wing (same address) and a service wing (Mykhailivska St., 18-B).
The legal opinion also stated that “as seen from the draft decision’s materials, works have already been carried out on the buildings, resulting in changes to their area.” The lawyers did not specify what exactly might have been violated by LLC “Stolitsa” — possibly this is related to the fact that officials counted three buildings on the land, while the draft decision mentioned only two. In any case, this factor was one of the reasons the relevant department refused to approve the draft decision.
Later the draft decision was included in the agenda of the Kyiv City Council’s plenary meeting scheduled for 18 May 2023. In practice, the document was considered by the deputies only on 20 June of that year, and the council lacked enough votes to approve it — 54 deputies voted in favor, with the required minimum being 61 votes.
In particular, councilor Kseniia Semenova (Servant of the People faction) spoke in the plenary hall against approving the draft decision. Among other things, she pointed out that the document lacked information on whether the building owner plans to carry out restoration (often in the capital such work is used to formalize effectively new construction). She also noted the absence of data on whether LLC “Stolitsa” had concluded a protection agreement for these buildings with cultural heritage authorities. This is the document by which the owner and officials “fix on paper” the specifics of the usage regime for a monument, and the types and timing of restoration, conservation, repair works, etc.
“This draft decision allows the building’s owner to continue destroying it. A signed protection agreement protects a building with protected status from destruction. It’s not difficult [to conclude such an agreement],” Kseniia Semenova said.
Interestingly, during that plenary session neither the head of the city council’s Commission on Urban Planning, Architecture and Land Relations Mykhailo Terentiev (UDAR faction), nor the director of the KSCA Department of Land Resources Valentyna Pelykh could answer Semenova about the existence of such a protection agreement. Terentiev said that the draft decision had been approved by a letter from the Department for Protection of Cultural Heritage dated 2021. This was likely a manipulation — he apparently referred to the very document city lawyers had mentioned and cited in their remarks.
Councilor Denys Moskal (VO “Batkivshchyna” faction) stated his support for the land allocation. His arguments were straightforward: the buildings are not at risk of collapse, and formalizing lease relations would allow the city budget to be supplemented.
“I often walk in that area. I don’t know whether there is a [protection] agreement or not — it doesn’t personally concern me. But the premises are in exemplary condition. They are not falling apart. And if entrepreneurs are ready to pay 4 million hryvnias [annually] in rent, we should carry them on our hands, not create artificial obstacles,” Denys Moskal said.
Ultimately, the vote on the draft decision failed. Mykhailo Terentiev called on the deputies to return to the issue, but that proposal did not garner the necessary number of votes.
The civic organization Map of Renovation (Mappa Renovatsii) also opposed this land allocation at the time. Activists pointed out that the land might be used for “construction and maintenance of administrative buildings” rather than their “operation and maintenance.”
Subsequently, in May 2025 the Kyiv City Council filed a suit with the Commercial Court of Kyiv to recover 6,2 million hryvnias from LLC “Stolitsa.” The claim concerned unjustifiably retained funds — that is, funds the company did not pay to the city budget as rent from the moment the plot on Mykhailivska Street,18, 18-V was formed and registered in the StateGeoCadastre. This occurred in July of 2021, and according to city estimates “Stolitsa” did not pay rent through March 2025. Later, on 30 September of last year, the city commercial court fully satisfied the Kyiv City Council’s claims. As of today, that court decision has not been appealed in the appellate instance.
LLC “Stolitsa” filed the above-mentioned claim seeking that Kyiv City Council conclude a land lease agreement at the above address with the commercial court in January 2026. The company said the city council had not adopted the decision on the land allocation, although the draft decision has existed for a long time. They argued that in response to “Stolitsa”’s inquiry (sent in December 2025) Kyiv City Council did not provide information about when the document would be approved. The LLC emphasized that the city council not only has the right to carry out this land allocation but is obliged to do so under the law in cases where immovable property belonging to the potential lessee is located on the plot.
In response, the city council’s lawyers told the court that the claim failed to prove or substantiate that the plot size indicated by “Stolitsa” corresponds to the size of that immovable property. The city also argued that the local government body has a heavy workload — which was one reason the decision on the land allocation had not been made. The city council further argued that transfer of communal land into lease falls within the exclusive competence of the local self-government body, and the absence of a council decision makes it impossible to conclude a lease agreement and, accordingly, precludes recognizing it as concluded by a court decision. Thus, granting the claim would result in the court usurping the powers of the local self-government body. Moreover, the municipality emphasized that use of the disputed land is subject to restrictions because the plot lies within the protection zone around a cultural heritage site and contains regime-forming objects.
Ultimately, as noted above, the Kyiv City Council’s arguments were more convincing to the Kyiv commercial court judge Oksana Blazhivska.
What is known about “Stolitsa”
According to the analytics system Youcontrol, LLC “Stolitsa” was registered in Kyiv in October 2002. Currently the company is registered at Mykhailivska Street, 18. Its director is Serhii Horetskyi; founders are LLC “KUA ‘Business-Harant’” (acting in the interests of venture funds “Alkor” and “Sirius”), venture fund “Sargas” and Cypriot companies “C.G. Stolitsa Limited” and “Elakol Developments Limited.” The ultimate beneficiaries of LLC “Stolitsa” are listed as Kyiv resident Ivan Molchanov (in the collage on the left) and three Lithuanian citizens — Agne Ruzgiene, Raimondas Tumenas and Maryna Pozniakova.
The Youcontrol system indicates that LLC “Stolitsa” is part of the “BT INVEST” group of companies and the “Vladyslava Molchanova family group.”
The former group unites just under a hundred Ukrainian enterprises engaged in managing development and retail projects. In Ukraine BT INVEST operates the Novus retail chain, the company Best Imports, which imports products for that chain, and the development company Stolitsa Group. The key figures in this group are the aforementioned Tumenas, Pozniakova and Ruzgiene.
The Vladyslava Molchanova group includes about eighty business entities operating in construction and real estate. Youcontrol names the aforementioned development company Stolitsa Group, co-founded by Molchanova, as the main asset of this group. The link between LLC “Stolitsa” and this group is suggested by a simple fact — the co-owner of the company, Ivan Molchanov, is Vladyslava Molchanova’s son. Previously, various sources named her a major financial donor to the Kyiv office of the VO “Batkivshchyna” party, from which the aforementioned councilor Denys Moskal was elected to the Kyiv City Council.
Stolitsa Group is one of Kyiv’s largest developers and is preparing to develop new large city territories. Such activity frequently leads to scandals.
Most of this developer’s complexes have been and are being built in the Vynohradar area based on investment agreements with the state enterprise ND VA “Pushcha-Vodytsia” (agro-combine “Pushcha-Vodytsia”). Thus, residential complexes such as “Varshavskyi”, “Varshavskyi-2”, “Varshavskyi-3” and “Varshavskyi Plus” are being constructed there. Previously, the National Police had many questions about these developments, precisely because of the dubious nature of the investment agreements. Also constantly in the spotlight is the H2O residential complex that Stolitsa Group is building in the Osokorky area — a project the developer “took over” from the bankrupt Arkada Bank and has been unable to complete for a long time for various reasons.
Additionally, the Kyiv Administrative Court has for nearly two years been unable to issue a decision in a case challenging the Detailed Plan of the territory for part of the Voskresenskyi industrial area, which the Kyiv City Council approved in May 2023 in the interests of JSC “Kyivmetal”, which is in Vladyslava Molchanova’s orbit. The city prosecutor’s office insists on canceling that document — among other reasons because it changes provisions of the current General Plan, which contradicts the law.
The issue concerns the fact that the city authorities effectively “converted” an industrial zone of 12,61 ha (the user of the land is again “Kyivmetal”), which is also located in the sanitary protection zone of a railway station, into a residential development area. Thus, the company effectively obtained the right to build 8 residential “high-rises” (of 26 floors each). Some specialists believe potential developers are deliberately delaying the court dispute to have time to “build out as much as possible,” and then “use” the new residents against law enforcement. Supporting this version is the fact that while the case was “sitting in court,” “Kyivmetal” received a series of permits and started work.
One of the most high-profile stories linked to Vladyslava Molchanova’s companies occurred in early September 2025. Then NABU and SAP announced suspicions to this developer, her business partner, the controversial ex-MP from the Party of Regions Yurii Ivaniushchenko, and others regarding possible schemes with land plots totaling 18 ha under the Kyiv market “Stolychnyi” (Sofiivska Borshchahivka). According to the investigation, these individuals, with the assistance of StateGeoCadastre officials, unlawfully privatized land previously used by the same agro-combine “Pushcha-Vodytsia” and then transferred it to “their people.”
Valentyna Pelykh has headed the KSCA Department of Land Resources since 29 June 2021 (she served as acting head of the department from 2 April 2021). Previously, from 27 July 2018 to 1 April 2021, that department was led by the aforementioned Petro Olenych. Currently the land relations sphere of the capital is overseen by the KSCA deputy head for exercise of self-government powers Vladyslav Andronov.
The Department for Protection of Cultural Heritage of the KSCA has been led by Maryna Soloviova since 23 August 2023. She replaced Iryna Chernenko, who served as acting director of the department from 10 June 2023. Earlier, from 7 September 2018 to 9 June 2023, the department was headed by Oleksandr Nykoriak, who is now chairman of the NGO “All-Ukrainian Association for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.” The activities of this municipal department are overseen by KSCA deputy head Hanna Starostenko.
Author: Oleksandr Hlazunov
KyivVlada
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