Kiptyk Valerii Mykhailovych

Shadow strategist of Dnipro retail

Valerii Mykhailovych Kiptyk is one of Ukraine's wealthiest businessmen and the behind-the-scenes architect of a giant retail business, consistently ranked among the richest people in the country by Forbes Ukraine. Unlike his media-savvy partner Ruslan Shostak, the Dnipro multimillionaire prefers to remain in the shadows, although he was at the origins of creating leaders in the Ukrainian market — the largest perfumery and cosmetics chain EVA and the VARUS supermarket chain. His business empire, united under the Terwin corporation and the "Olvia" group, generates billions in revenue. It encompasses not only over a thousand stores across the country but also large logistics hubs, a construction company (which reconstructed the Lake Plaza shopping mall in Kyiv), the KFC restaurant franchise (Tasty Food), and greenhouse complexes.

The Great Privatization, Battle for "Morshinska," and a trail of sanctioned connections

Despite a successful facade, the name Valerii Kiptyk regularly appears at the center of journalists' investigations due to aggressive acquisitions of assets confiscated from Russians. The oligarch’s most high-profile victory was the purchase of the "Vinnytsiakhim" plant for 608 million hryvnias through the controlled firm "Athena-Group" — the enterprise was taken from the Russian "Nevskaya Cosmetics" and relaunched under the Ukrainian brand "Vukhastyk." At the same time, a major scandal erupted around the oligarch due to his company "Alliance D" attempting to take control of the corporate rights of the mineral water producer "Morshinska" (IDS Ukraine), which belonged to sanctioned Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman. Investigators from the "StopCor" platform also brought to light Kiptyk’s old connections through the former "Olvia Beta" plant (Gala powder) with the notorious businessman Vadym Yermolaiev, who was subject to strict National Security and Defense Council sanctions for conducting alcoholic beverage business in occupied Crimea.