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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
From Yanukovych’s militia to the 'governor' of Bukovyna: how Ruslan Osypenko became head of the Chernivtsi OVA and 'got along' with Mayor Klichuk?
Luxury during wartime? In May of this year the Chernivtsi OVA announced a tender for "Souvenir watches" with an expected cost of more than 730 thousand hryvnias, and overall in the six months of the new leadership "jewelry" purchases from the budget amounted to 1,28 million. To whom is the administration led by Ruslan Osypenko distributing valuables against the backdrop of a difficult economic situation in the country that for the fifth year is repelling the Russian invasion? What is known about the police general who this year took the helm of Bukovyna’s rear? And what kind of relationship has Osypenko developed with Chernivtsi mayor Roman Klichuk?
Since 8 January 2026, the Chernivtsi Regional Military Administration has been headed by Police General of the third rank Ruslan Osypenko, appointed by presidential decree.
Before coming to Bukovyna, Osypenko ran the Donetsk police for more than four years, where, among other things, he coordinated evacuations with the "White Angel" units, and in 2024 he received the Order of Danylo Halytskyi. However, the new regional head’s biography also contains episodes that, in our view, deserve attention.
A police career during the Yanukovych era
In 2011–2014 Osypenko was the first deputy chief of the Shevchenkivskyi District Police Department of Kyiv — head of the criminal police — and later led that department (this is noted, among other sources, in Ruslan Osypenko’s dossier on the BukMedia portal).
It was during that period, as Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti‑Corruption Action Center, wrote in a blog on Ukrainska Pravda, that an investigator from that department closed a criminal proceeding regarding the All‑Ukrainian Development Bank, which was linked to Viktor Yanukovych’s son Oleksandr — citing lack of corpus delicti. Shabunin sharply criticized that decision.
In 2015 the Public Lustration Committee included Osypenko in a list of 50 officials whom activists believed should be dismissed, and in 2016 his name again appeared in an informal list of the "non‑lustrated" published by the Antikor media outlet.
We emphasize: these are subjective assessments of individual civil activists and media, not an official court or state body decision. At the same time, such mentions raise questions about the official’s reputation.
A loan of almost half a million: the wife and business
In 2017 the outlet Prestupnosti.NET analyzed Osypenko’s then annual declaration (note that OVA head declarations are currently not publicly available on the NACP website).
It showed that in 2016 his wife received a loan of 450 thousand hryvnias (at the then exchange rate — more than 16 thousand dollars) from Kyiv resident Vyacheslav Bohachyk.
According to YouControl, Bohachyk is an entrepreneur engaged in food trade.
Notably, Bohachyk later participated in a competition to place a temporary structure precisely in the Shevchenkivskyi district, where Osypenko had formerly led the police.
Also, a person with the same full name was listed as a representative of the public organization "Civic Corps" in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv and in 2014 ran for Kyiv City Council from the Afghanistan Veterans Party.
Coincidences? Is there any connection between Bohachyk and Osypenko? The question remains open.
Watches worth more than 700 thousand during the war
According to Clarity Project data, from the time of Osypenko’s appointment until early October 2026, the regional administration carried out 22 successful procurements totaling 7,09 million hryvnias. Among notable expense items were "jewelry and related goods" for 1,28 million hryvnias.
Specifically, a single procurement, "Souvenir watches," announced in May had an expected value of 732,75 thousand hryvnias. Award products are common practice for authorities. But to whom and for what merits were these watches awarded in a region that hosts displaced persons and maintains the rear? That is a question the OVA should answer publicly.
Land, forests, and communities
Since the beginning of the year regional media have regularly reported on land disputes involving the OVA. BukInfo reported a threat to 169 private plots in the Selyatyn community due to land reallocation in favor of the forestry enterprise.
Kamianetska community, according to the same outlet, appealed to NABU, the State Bureau of Investigations and the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding possible offenses by officials of the state enterprise 'Forests of Ukraine', the OVA and the prosecutor’s office.
At the same time, as Dzerkalo Tyzhnia noted, some of these conflicts began before Osypenko’s appointment, so what is his role in them? For now the question is open.
Meanwhile the new regional head appears to have 'gotten along' well with Chernivtsi city authorities. A month after his appointment Mayor Roman Klichuk publicly praised Osypenko: according to Klichuk, communication between the city council and the OVA "has noticeably improved, and the new head quickly responds to problems."
Although previously Ruslan Osypenko repeatedly sharply criticized the region’s economic issues. In particular, he openly condemned the terrible condition of roads, unfinished construction projects, the readiness level of hospitals, and problems with power outages in the city.
In March, at meetings with communities, Roman Klichuk complained of "unjustified pressure" from law enforcement on the city authorities — suspicions, searches, asset seizures. Osypenko responded that nothing is unjustified without reason, but asked community heads to report to him about cases they consider biased, and promised to review each such episode.
How exactly the OVA intends to "review" criminal cases involving local government officials — and whether this will not become a pretext for pressure on law enforcement — remains to be seen.
The question is interesting. After all, Mayor Klichuk has repeatedly come into the focus of 'Stop Corruption TV' — notably in an investigation into a long‑standing conflict between the city hall and a tenant of a municipal premises in central Chernivtsi, through which, according to our data, the budget lost more than 2 million hryvnias, and about the mayor’s family business. The journalistic investigation is ongoing.
Know more? Tell us
Do you work at the OVA, the city council, or a company that cooperates with regional authorities and have information about procurements, land decisions, or personnel appointments? Write to us on social media or in the chat‑bot. We carefully verify each message and do not disclose our sources.
The editorial office is ready to provide Ruslan Osypenko and the Chernivtsi OVA a platform to express their position regarding the facts stated in the article.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item ""Ювелірка" на мільйон, справа Януковича-молодшого і позика дружини: що відомо про очільника Чернівецької ОВА Осипенка?". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: StopKor.
