Kirovohrad Region: Anti-corruption activists appealed to authorities over the situation surrounding the enterprise “Chervonyi Zemlerob”

The state agricultural enterprise that rose from ruins to become one of the top three in Ukraine is being destroyed by those who should be protecting it. This was stated at a press conference by the head of the All‑Ukrainian movement “Civil Society Against Corruption,” Oleksandr Mulenko. According to him, the story of SE “Chervonyi Zemlerob” extends far beyond the Kirovohrad region. Against the backdrop of the facts published by NABU in the “Carthage” case, this indicates the existence of a large criminal network within the law enforcement system.

“While the enterprise was being looted, driven into debt and brought to the brink of bankruptcy, law enforcement saw nothing. Empty warehouses, broken tractors, fields overrun with weeds, and almost 80 million UAH in debts did not bother anyone. But as soon as the farm began paying taxes, reports, searches and arrests rained down on it. This is not an accident. It’s a scheme, and it’s not the first time it’s worked,” Mulenko said. Forward contracts, which are common in agribusiness, helped Chervonyi Zemlerob get back on its feet. The farm began repaying debts to the state and in 2026 it ranked third in Ukraine for yield among state agricultural enterprises.

Mulenko said that as soon as the first successes appeared, the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Kirovohrad region opened a criminal proceeding under part 4 of article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. “It all started with a report from an employee working within the system of that very Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police, who is implicated in ‘Carthage.’”

“For some reason, operative officer Oleksandr Shevchuk decided to present an ordinary advance payment under a forward contract as the sale of grain at understated prices. What is that, if not a deliberate falsification of facts and an official crime?” Mulenko asks. He said that when the fictitious nature of the ‘facts’ became obvious, Shevchuk filed a second report — about ‘concealed’ sunflower harvest deliveries that had not, in fact, occurred. Of course, the investigation again found no adequate evidence. Such ‘persistence,’ in Mulenko’s view, may indicate that the case was commissioned.”},{

“There is suspicion that someone ‘above’ assigned Shevchuk the task of finding any reason to once again drive Chervonyi Zemlerob into impoverishment and destroy its management. In time we will name the names of those behind this. Those who are so influential that they can easily manipulate the investigation, the prosecutor’s office and the courts, and even have the audacity to hint at alleged ties to the Office of the President,” promised the head of the anti‑corruption movement. Mulenko told journalists this statistic: within the proceedings against Chervonyi Zemlerob, 64 court warrants for investigative actions were obtained! That’s dozens of searches and seizures and even telecommunications wiretapping.

“I don’t remember DSI officers doing anything like this against the figures in the most high‑profile corruption cases. But here, for some reason, ordinary farmers have become worse to them than call centers and drug rings!” Mulenko exclaimed. Endless searches, seizures of grain and bank accounts cause millions in losses: fields go unworked, sowing is disrupted, taxes go unpaid, and employees don’t know whether they will be paid.

A state asset, as an object of privatization, is devalued every day. But could that be the ‘secret mission’ of this case? the head of the Movement suggests we consider. “We see a system that sucks the lifeblood out of the state — from citizens, from business, from state enterprises. NABU is already unraveling this system from within. We ask that attention also be paid to the Kirovohrad region,” Mulenko said. He insists: the situation with Chervonyi Zemlerob is not an isolated case but a widespread practice that leaves the country without a future, the economy without development, and during wartime should be considered a crime against national security.

Mulenko reminded that it directly contradicts the commitments Ukraine has taken on the path to the EU. The European Commission in its report for 2025 year specifically insisted on eliminating opportunities for manual interference in pre‑trial investigations. In addition, decisions of the National Security and Defense Council, enacted by presidential decrees in 2024 and 2025, instructed law enforcement to review restrictive measures against business entities, refrain from actions that block their operations, and introduced a moratorium on interference by state bodies in business activities.

“Strangely, the Kirovohrad region has turned into a zone free from the law, where all these requirements do not apply,” Mulenko emphasized.

According to Mulenko, the Movement has already initiated a number of public and journalistic investigations. The Movement is also appealing to NABU, the State Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Prosecutor General and the relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada with a demand to conduct an independent review of all circumstances of the proceedings, the justification for investigative actions and possible outside influence on the investigation. “We are convinced that the state will give this a tough and principled assessment,” Oleksandr Mulenko concluded.