A private estate of the head of SE “Lisy Ukrayiny”, Yurii Bolokhovets, and his business partner, Mykhailo Reva, includes lakes, stables, and vacation houses; it has been under construction in the forests of Chernihiv region for years. Yet, this estate is not registered in the name of any of the two, instead, its parts are registered in the names of relatives and friends.
Over 90% of the estate’s territory is merely seized territories of the state and municipal forest. To legalize seizing some forests, the Chernihiv regional military administration even gave its permission to locate a children’s camp in that area (spoiler — no camp there). However, the heads of the forestries don’t see anything suspicious in the fact that forests have become a part of a private estate with an area of over 80 hectares — probably because this estate belongs to the main forester of the country.
Last year, this problem came to the attention of law enforcement bodies, and they started the investigation but seem to have lost interest in it rather quickly. However, NGL.media became interested in this story, and we decided to tell it based not only on the investigators’ findings but also on the things we saw with our own eyes.
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“You must be going to the farmstead, right?.. That was [built] by Yura Bolokhovets, he is two years my senior. There had been some old houses, they built some new ones, brought some deer… Yura himself works in Kyiv, he doesn’t live here. On weekends, people come here in expensive cars…” a resident of Ivanhorod village in Chernihiv region points towards the forest at the end of the village. This is where relatives and friends of Yurii Bolokhovets, the director of SE “Lisy Ukrayiny”, have been building their houses for several last years The state enterprise “Lisy Ukrayiny” was founded in October 2022; it is subordinated to the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine and has 148 branches, which cover almost one and a half thousand forestries .
General Director of State Enterprise “Lisy Ukrayiny” Yuriy Bolokhovets (photo from Facebook)
The locals still refer to this territory tenderly as “a farmstead”. Previously, there actually was Derkach’s farmstead, but now it formally is the boundary of Ivanhorod village, the motherland of Yurii Bolokhovets, his wife, and business partners of his family.
We found out about the seized forest in Ivanhorod several months ago when some Telegram channels and websites of questionable quality started posting discrediting materials about the head of SE “Lisy Ukrayiny”. We sifted out the ungrounded and emotional accusations and checked the facts about Yurii Bolokhovets and people related to him.
Unbidden guests. A visit to the “farmstead” in Ivanhorod
Ivanhorod village is situated in the south-eastern part of Chernihiv region, 60 km from Nizhyn. My friend and I went there on a grey and snowless day in early December, getting around the total lack of proper roads and remote, seemingly dead, villages for the last 30 km. The road was leading us to the boundary of Ivanhorod village, where the “farmstead” is actually situated, with only forests behind it. Along the way, we saw several oncoming cross-country cars with Kyiv registration plates.
The main gates of the “farmstead” in Ivanhorod, enclosed by a mesh fence (a photo by NGL.media)
Having parked the car not far from the gates of the “farmstead”, we decided to walk along the mesh fence, enclosing the territory, to see how deep into the forest it stretches. At that time, we already knew that behind the fence, there was an enormous, either residential or vacation, complex, the land of which was partially privatized and partially leased, and a large part of the territory of which (which we actually got interested in) was the state-owned and municipal forest.
Having walked for a considerable distance, we saw that the fence enclosed a much larger territory of the forest than we had expected – a considerably larger territory. We realized that it would not be possible to go around the entire estate and be back till dusk, so we decided to go back. On our way to the car, we noticed that we were being watched by a man on the horse, who was behind pine trees in the “farmstead” territory. Actually, there might not be too many strangers in such remote areas, so it is worth being vigilant. The howls of dogs from the “farmstead” also accompanied us all the time, and at one point, a man in a forestry uniform drove up in a Renault Duster, asking if we needed any help. Thank you, not today.
A thick forest and some houses are seen behind the fence, enclosing the “farmstead” (a photo by NGL.media)
Previously, in warm weather, our colleagues from “Suspilne. Chernihiv”, had visited Ivanhorod and kindly agreed to take some pictures of the building complex territory at NGL.media’s request. They managed to enter the estate territory, where residential buildings, stables, and enclosures for animals, including deer, are situated. The territory is enormous, although it is evident from the state of the houses that they are not newly built.
“No, this is not a hotel, no way, [people] live here… There is nothing else we can tell you,” a lady, working at the “farmstead”, answered the journalist’s question about those who lived or had some rest there. Eventually, we managed to find this information in a more official way.
From Ivanhorod, the camera crew of “Suspilne” was chased by an unknown man on a scooter, and the NGL.media journalists were quietly accompanied by a vehicle, which had left the “farmstead”. Unbidden guests are not welcome here.
“Farmstead” residents: the mother, friends of the family, and business partners of Yurii Bolokhovets
Chernihiv region is among the most forested in Ukraine; forests cover 23% of its territory The data for 2019 from the Chief Statistics Department in Chernihiv region . The roads through the mixed forest of pines and birches are truly astonishing. Seeing this beauty beyond thought makes you understand why people decided to build houses here despite the lack of infrastructure. The remoteness of this village may have been the reason why nobody paid any attention to what was going on here for many years.
However, in November 2023, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) initiated criminal proceedings No. 62023000000001002 dated 11/14/2023 against Yurii Bolokhovets pursuant to four articles, related to seizing land and illegal enrichment Art. 197-1 (part 1 – unauthorized occupation of a land plot, and part 3 – unauthorized construction), part 3 of Art. 364 (abuse of power or official position, which led to grave consequences) and part 3 of Art. 209 (legalization of illegally obtained property committed by a group of persons or on a particularly large scale) . The SBI investigators suspected that Yurii Bolokhovets had been obtaining unofficial revenues, which he then invested into real estate, including his native village of Ivanhorod. For instance, according to the data of the tax inspection, in four years, Yurii Bolokhovets’ family acquired the assets for the amount of UAH 22.8 million while having the official income of UAH 10.4 million.
The same criminal proceedings mention the “farmstead” in Ivanhorod, visited by us and the SBI investigators. The territory of this building complex is enclosed with a solid fence, consists of 14 privatized land plots, and occupies a part of the municipal forest in the inventory of SE “Lisy Ukrayiny”, headed by Bolokhovets.
According to the state register of real estate, the privatized land plots, which are a part of the complex territory, are divided between six people. One largest land plot with an area of 4 hectares is municipal, but since 2012, it has been leased by 63-year-old Hanna Bolokhovets, a former teacher and the mother of the head of “Lisy Ukrayiny”. The purpose of this land plot is farming.
There is an artificial pond in this plot, which, judging by Google Earth Pro, was made in 2012 as well. Hanna Bolokhovets signed the lease agreement for this land plot in the Ivanhorod village council, which was closed down after the decentralization reform, and the village joined the Ichnia territorial community. As it often happens during the closing-down period, the land lease agreement, signed with Hanna Bolokhovets, disappeared and could not be provided by the city or district councils at NGL.media’s request Ivanhorod village is located in Pryluky district .
The pond in Hanna Bolokhovets’ land plot was artificially made in 2012 (a screenshot from Google Earth Pro)
In addition to a large leased land plot, Hanna Bolokhovets also owns two more plots in the “farmstead” with a total area of 1.1 ha and a residential building. The remaining plots, with a total area of about 3 ha, belong to five more people: 30-year-old Andrii Reva, 86-year-old Hanna Reva, 32-year-old Oleksandra Zubko, 39-year-old Mary Piroyan and 37-year-old Vasyl Perkhun. All these land plots were privatized by 2021.
While NGL.media was preparing this material, it was contacted by Andrii Reva’s father, 70-year-old Mykhailo Reva, born in Ivanhorod, a sole entrepreneur actively involved in the energy sector after the beginning of the russian invasion in 2022, the companies of Reva-senior “Garant-Energo” and “NVP Garant-Energo” sign agreements with “Ukrenergo” on restoration and protection of energy infrastructure, worth billions . In 2008, Mykhailo Reva and 26-year-old Yurii Bolokhovets, then a forester of the municipal forestry “Ichniaraiagrolisnytstvo”, established “Hunting-and-Fishing Enterprise “Yeher” [“Gamekeeper”] in 2017, Yurii Bolokhovets was removed from the number of official enterprise owners, yet his wife Liudmyla was the company’s signatory till 2023 inclusive , which uses 23 thousand ha of the hunting area in Chernihiv region.
In the conversation with the NGL.media journalist, Reva-senior claimed that all the territory in Ivanhorod, which is of interest to us, is actually his personal “farmstead”. He asked us to leave him alone and, ahead of any possible questions, stated that Yurii Bolokhovets had nothing to do with this territory at all.
Mykhailo Reva (a photo by CnTime.cn.ua)
“If you are a Ukrainian lady and work for Ukraine, I would ask you to pay more attention to people who have stayed here, who are doing something, and who are having a very hard time because of your questions… You are writing something now, you are discouraging people,” Mykhailo Reva complained emotionally. “You are nagging at me about Bolokhovets all the time Prior to this conversation, NGL.media had never contacted Mykhailo Reva before . I have told you ten times already — I don’t have any relations with him… It hurts me when people give nightmares to Ukrainians during the war using someone’s money. This is a disaster.”
Mykhailo Reva is stretching the truth regarding the absence of any relations with the current head of SE “Lisy Ukrayiny”. These two families are united not only by common origin and neighbourhood but also by business. For instance, Andrii Reva, a 30-year-old son of Mykhailo Reva, has co-owned the “Ivanhorodske” farm together with Hanna Bolokhovets, the mother of the director of SE “Lisy Ukrayiny”, for over 10 years. Also Reva-junior co-owns “Ivanhorodske” LLC, which is involved in agriculture, together with Liudmyla Bolokhovets, Yurii Bolokhovets’ wife. These two enterprises with the same name own or lease over 1,700 ha in Ivanhorod and beyond the village. And they often lease the land, owned by the closest relatives of Yurii Bolokhovets — his mother (Hanna Bolokhovets), father (Vitalii Bolokhovets), aunt (Liudmyla Bolokhovets) and wife (Liudmyla Bolokhovets).
The land plots of “Ivanhorodske” LLC and “Ivanhorodske” farm are indicated on the map
In the words of the local media, the “farmstead” on the boundary of Ivanhorod also has the household part of the “Yeher” hunting enterprise, for instance, the enclosures for hunting dogs. Actually, now this household officially belongs to Mykhailo and Andrii Reva, and Artur Ananian, a businessman from Donetsk Artur Ananian works as a director of “BF Zavod” metallurgic company, which belongs to a billionaire Leonid Yurushev, who also owns a large wood-processing business. Yurushed featured in the investigation of NGL.media about the sale of timber in the so-called reverse auctions (auctions with the decreasing price) , who received Yurii Bolokhovets’ share in 2017, and the following year, his wife, a make-up artist Mary Piroyan, became the owner of a land plot with the area of 0.16 ha in the “farmstead”.
At first, in a conversation with NGL.media, Artur Ananian insisted that his wife doesn’t own any land in Ivanhorod. “I know everything that belongs to my wife. She doesn’t own this land. Maybe, someone has deceived you,” he said. Yet, 20 minutes later, Ananian recalled the land in Ivanhorod and called back, “I bought this land in 2018, I do remember. I bought it to live there. Yet we aren’t living there because the war started, and we moved to another place,” he explained. In Ananian’s words, at the time of the purchase, there was an arrangement between different owners of land plots to build houses together and live in the enclosed territory.
Another land plot in the “farmstead” with an area of 0.4 ha belongs to 32-year-old Oleksandra Zubko, a daughter of the deputy of the Kyiv city council and former people’s deputy, Yurii Zubko. Until recently, Oleksandra Zubko was the owner of “Ancor Trade” LLC, which now belongs to Andrii Reva. At present, Zubko is a co-owner of several construction companies and “Kora Bioenergy” LLC, established in June of 2023, which produces wooden items.
Oleksandra Zubko refused to talk to the NGL.media journalist and asked her to send her questions via SMS. In response, she wrote a short message – she uses the land, bought in Ivanhorod, “according to the current legislation”, whatever that means.
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Another owner of a land plot of 0.4548 ha in the “farmstead” is 37-year-old Vasyl Perkhun from Kyiv region. Previously, he worked in the forestry in Bila Tserkva, and now, in his words, he grows coniferous trees.
“My father-in-law was from that place, from Ivanhorod. I am growing coniferous plants, planting greenery, and I bought this land for future – to start a plant nursery there, but due to the war, I am not doing anything with it,” said Vasyl Perkhun to NGL.media.
As per Perkhun, he sometimes comes to Ivanhorod, where he often sees Mykhailo Reva, and, less frequently – Yurii Bolokhovets himself.
“They did start a construction there, but it is silent now because of this situation in the country – you understand,” was Vasyl Perkhun’s answer to the question about the way the “farmstead” territory is used now.
Gentle legalization
In July 2021, 31-year-old Hanna Likarenko, a cousin of Andrii Reva and a daughter of the former head of Ichnia village council, Oleksandr Likarenko, registered the Children’s Sports and Educational Club “Sparta” LLC. Two years later, this company asked the Chernihiv regional council to allocate some part of the municipal forest in Ivanhorod for the needs of the children’s club. This part covers 2.5 ha of the forest in the inventory of the municipal SE “Ichniaraiahrolisnytstvo” [Ichnia district agroforestry] – the plot, which, in the investigators’ opinion, had already been occupied by the “farmstead” of the Bolokhovets and the Revas prior to the resolution of the regional council. The SBI believes that the intention to get permission to use forest lands constitutes an actual attempt to legalize the seizure of the forest. It is hard to disagree with this point of view.
On September 27, 2023, the deputies of the Chernihiv regional council agreed to allocate 2.5 ha in the territory of the forest for the use by the Children’s Sports and Educational Club “Sparta” “For recreational, cultural, health, tourist, educational, upbringing, and sports purposes for a period of 49 years without changing the purpose and without withdrawal from the permanent forest user” . Yet, for some reason, “Sparta” didn’t sign the agreement with the municipal forestry. Instead, in May 2023, the Chernihiv regional military administration made a resolution about allocating 2.5 ha to “Sparta” in the territory of the “Nizhyn forestry”, which is subordinate to SE “Lisy Ukrayiny”. As a result, the agreement on the use of this forest was signed.
An approximate area of the state-owned forest, allocated for the use by CSRC“Sparta” is marked in yellow on the map. This territory is within the private “farmstead” of Yurii Bolokhovets (a photo based on the data of Deep Green Ukraine project)
In her written comments for NGL.media, Hanna Likarenko, the owner of CSRC “Sparta”, claimed that she wasn’t using the obtained forest area. “As for the land plot you are asking about, we haven’t got around to it yet. There is nothing in that place yet… We are not planning any major construction, don’t worry. A volleyball court. A ping-pong table. Something to keep the inventory at most. This is a summer children’s camp. Next year we will invite you if we have enough time to do something. It’s better to see it with one’s own eyes,” Hanna Likarenko said.
The SBI investigators believe that the heads of both municipal and state forestries don’t pay any attention to the violations intentionally and assist in legalizing the seizure of the forest. And the transfer of the land plot for “Sparta” to use is just an attempt to legalize the wilful occupation of the forest.
However, SE “Lisy Ukrayiny” informed NGL.media that they haven’t registered any seizure of the forests, which are in the inventory of the enterprise in Ivanhorod, and the head of the municipal forestry, SE “Ichniaraiahrolisnytstvo” is convincing us that they are not conducting any inspection because they don’t have “the authority of the law enforcement bodies”.
“My thinking is like this: there are controlling authorities, there is the public prosecutor’s office, let them go ahead and deal with it. Why in the world would I do it?» was the response of Anatolii Bobro, the head of SE “Ichniaraiahrolisnytstvo”, to the question of NGL.media about the occupation of the forest.
Yurii Bolokhovets, the Director-General of SE “Lisy Ukrayiny”, refused to talk to the NGL.media journalist but agreed to reply in writing.
“I know nothing about the criminal proceedings regarding the seizure of land plots which are in the inventory of SE “Ichniaraiahrolisnytstvo” and SE “Lisy Ukrayiny”. The representatives of law enforcement bodies have not contacted me or my family members regarding this issue,” said Bolokhovets, ignoring most questions of NGL.media.
41-year-old Yurii Bolokhovets has been heading the state enterprise “Lisy Ukrayiny” since the moment of its establishment in the autumn of 2022. He had worked all his previous conscientious life in the forestry: from the forestry in his native Ivanhorod village and till heading the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine in 2021.
Today, judging by Yurii Bolokhovets’ declaration, he lives with his wife Liudmyla and their daughter Sofia in a 4-room apartment of his friend, Andrii Reva, in RC “Bulvar fontaniv” [“Boulevard of Fountains”] in Kyiv. No real estate object, owned by his family, is registered in the name of Yurii Bolokhovets – everything is registered in the names of his wife and daughter.