Honcharenko Serhii Vasylovych

Former high-ranking official of Donetsk region and elder brother of Kramatorsk mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko

For four years (from early 2020 to March 2024), he held the influential position of Director of the Housing and Communal Services Department of the Donetsk Regional State Administration (RSA).

The Honcharenko brothers became subjects of a high-profile journalistic investigation by the BlackBox OSINT project. Analysts found that during their joint work in the frontline Donetsk region, the family's official expenses exceeded their income by over $1.25 million. To conceal shadow cash, the brothers massively registered elite assets under their retired parents (Nina and Vasyl Honcharenko), who suddenly “became wealthy” by $2 million in the form of dozens of untaxed apartments and hundreds of hectares of land.

Corruption scandal worth 265 million and NABU detention

The criminal scandal surrounding Serhii Honcharenko erupted over embezzlement of budget funds during the war. In 2023, the head of the Housing and Communal Services Department signed five contracts worth 414 million hryvnias without tender with the shell company “Poli.” The funds were allocated for restoration of water and heat supply in frontline cities (Selydove, Myrnohrad, Sviatohirsk), but prices for materials were artificially inflated.

At the end of November 2025, NABU detectives detained Serhii Honcharenko in Zakarpattia, where he was hiding. The court seized his assets, his wife Yuliia’s property, and 120,000 euros in cash. In July 2026, NABU and SAP officially completed the pre-trial investigation into the embezzlement of over 265 million hryvnias by an organized group led by Honcharenko.