Officials of the State Customs Service of Ukraine and the National Bank, including the acting head of the customs service Serhiy Zvyagintsev and the deputy head of the NBU Dmytro Oliynyk, may be involved in an organized scheme to embezzle funds through the fictitious import of unmanned aerial vehicles. According to the investigation, the officials, together with the heads of regional customs offices, created an organized group that operated through “one-day” companies, in particular, Bullet LLC, Export Master LLC, Anver Torg LLC, Askoniprom LLC, Promofly LLC, Spetsprylad LLC and others.
Documentedly, in the first half of 2025, drones worth over $1 billion were cleared at customs, but every third device exists only on paper. Due to fictitious imports, illegal withdrawals of funds took place through banks - ASVIO Bank JSC, Pivdennyi JSC, Credit Agricole Bank JSC, OTP Bank JSC, Motor-Bank JSC, RVS Bank JSC, Radabank JSC and Alliance Bank JSC. The money was sent to the accounts of foreign companies in Romania, Poland and Hong Kong, which had no staff, production facilities and transparent reporting.
The scheme has a double effect: the state loses billions of hryvnias, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not receive critically needed drones for the front, which reduces the army's combat capability and endangers the lives of servicemen. At the same time, officials and bankers enrich themselves under the guise of war.
In this regard, a complaint was filed with the competent authorities with a demand to conduct a full audit of the activities of the State Customs Service, the National Bank, and the banks involved, to establish the facts of fictitious import and illegal withdrawal of funds, and to bring the perpetrators to criminal liability.
Separately, the public demands public explanations from Serhiy Zvyagintsev and NBU Chairman Andriy Pyshny regarding the use of fictitious import schemes and measures to stop them, which are of critical importance for Ukraine's defense capability during the war.
