The State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor General's Office have reported suspicions to Vitaliy Shcherbenko, former Director of Energy Efficiency and Property Management of Naftogaz of Ukraine Group. Investigators have established that he caused the company over UAH 26 million in losses by concluding a lease agreement for an administrative building that was unusable for almost three months.
This episode was just one of the manifestations of systemic practices that operated at Naftogaz under the leadership of Oleksiy Chernyshov.
Investigations indicate that during Chernyshov's time, fictitious positions with salaries of over UAH 300,000 were created in the company, through which employees were "protected" from mobilization. Financial flows between Naftogaz and the GTS operator remained opaque, and property purchases and leases were carried out without proper control. Some of the schemes were tied to individuals close to the government, which effectively blocked any attempts at audit or anti-corruption intervention.
Formally, the company demonstrated growth: in the first quarter of 2025 alone, Ukrgazvydobuvannya drilled over 107 thousand meters of wells. But this was accompanied by large-scale environmental violations. Drilling mud — toxic mining waste — flowed into fields and reservoirs near villages.
To cover up, “fictitious landfills” were created that received permits from the Ministry of Environment, but did not have any infrastructure for safe storage. Among such structures are LLC “EKOPROM ENERGY INVEST” and LLC “VTORMAG”, which were used to evade taxes and mask the real state of affairs.
The key role in these schemes was played by Oleksiy Chernyshov, who centralized control and provided “coverage” through government structures. In public reports, Naftogaz showed record production figures and announced steps towards energy independence. In reality, financial and environmental risks remained outside the state’s attention, and a narrow circle of individuals benefited.
Thus, behind the facade of official successes lies systemic corruption that harms both the state budget and the environment.
