Babenko Oleksandr Viktorovych

A businessman from Cherkasy whose newly created “paper” companies received tenders worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias from the State Enterprise “Lisy Ukrayiny” (Forests of Ukraine)

Owner of LLC "Lvivlis" and Private Enterprise "Chyhyrynske" (as well as related companies "Boryspilskе," "Zakarpattia-LIS"); relative Nadia Babenko owns "Uman-Lis." According to sources of "Glavkom" at the State Audit Service, Oleksandr and Nadia Babenko have family ties with Serhii Babenko.

Scheme with the SE "Lisy Ukrayiny"

“Lvivlis” (registered in Ternopil on October 8, 2025, authorized capital 200 UAH, director Mykola Shabanov) within about 8 months of existence “won” tenders totaling 635.7 million UAH — despite lacking its own equipment, staff, and experience; to confirm experience, it used its own company’s review. “Chyhyrynske” from 2024–2026 won tenders amounting to 634.3 million UAH (including through the Carpathian Forest Office). Babenko companies even won non-core services — such as boiler room stoker services for the Capital Forest Office.

Audit and schemes

The State Audit Service (headed by Alla Basalaieva) reported large-scale schemes: only in 2025, branches of SE “Lisy Ukrayiny” concluded contracts worth about 10 billion UAH, and 11 out of 12 contractors checked turned out to be “ghost companies” (absent at their registered addresses); one reported planting 3.5 million trees with no employees. Former SE CEO Yurii Bolokhovets was suspected of illegal enrichment (~7.9 million UAH), a charge revoked in March 2026.