Kovalenko Vitaliy Valentynovych

Deputy Chairman of the SPFU from Natalukha's team

Vitaliy Kovalenko is the Deputy Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine in the team of Chairman Dmytro Natalukha, appointed by parliament in January 2026. Forbes describes him as an "experienced manager from the corporate sector" — this is how Natalukha introduced him among his deputies who underwent special checks. According to the declaration register, before joining the SPFU Kovalenko held the position of Deputy Head of the Kamianske District State Administration in Cherkasy Oblast, as well as Deputy Head of the Tax Audit Department of the State Tax Inspectorate in the Babushkinsky district of Dnipro. That is, a path from a district tax inspector to Deputy Chairman of a strategic fund managing the privatization of Ocean Plaza, Odesa Port Plant, and Demurinsky GOK.

14 real estate properties and a Maserati

In Kovalenko's declaration submitted in March 2026 as Deputy Chairman of the SPFU, 14 real estate properties and a Maserati car are declared. The position is explicitly marked as "associated with a high level of corruption risks" according to the NACP list. An official taking such a position gains direct access to privatization decisions concerning Ukraine's largest state assets — and at the same time declares 14 real estate properties and a premium sports car.

"Corporate sector" and the question of DTEK

The phrase "experienced manager from the corporate sector" without specifying an employer in open sources leaves open the question: which corporate sector exactly? Publications in specialized media associate Kovalenko with the management of Rinat Akhmetov's structures, particularly DTEK — which in the context of the position of Deputy Chairman of the SPFU, responsible for privatizing energy assets, is an obvious potential conflict of interest.