MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who actively criticizes pro-Russian influences in Ukraine and conducts high-profile investigations against others, has found himself at the center of a scandal. Journalists from Informator discovered that the apartment in which the MP and his wife Olga Koval moved in in August 2023 is registered to his father-in-law, Volodymyr Koval, and is connected to Russian agribusiness.
An elite apartment with an area of 134 sq. m in the center of Kyiv is estimated at over 11.7 million UAH. Given the official income of the couple — less than one and a half million UAH for two — such a purchase looks dubious. The NACP has not checked the deputy's declarations for 2023 for two years and has not established the source of financing for the purchase.
Volodymyr Koval, Zheleznyak's father-in-law, worked for Russian oligarchs in the agricultural sector for a long time. He managed companies associated with Sergey Kislov's Yug Rus holding, in particular Tradefield Ukraine and Kherson KHP. Through a series of corporate structures and control links, the business was formally transferred under the control of the Dutch company World Wide Industrial Invest BV, which, according to journalists, covered up Russian assets in Ukraine.
Yug Rusy Holding is a large agro-industrial empire with dozens of factories and grain elevators in Russia. Despite the formal transfer of assets in 2024, control of the business has remained in Russian hands until now.
Thus, Zheleznyak's apartment may be linked to funds earned from Russian business. Despite this, the MP continues to criticize the pro-Russian connections of other politicians, while his own family has direct economic ties to Russian oligarchs.
