Chernivtsi: a city stuck in the 90s?

The main criminal authority and shadow ruler of the city of Chernivtsi, Volodymyr Zahurskyi, better known in certain circles as «Zahura», has unleashed and provoked a war between criminal groups.

Volodymyr Zahurskyi is a protégé of Maksym Burbak and Firtash, as well as a subordinate of the notorious smuggler «Slon».

An important role in this «project» was given to Volodymyr Zahurskyi’s older brother, Mykola, who changed his surname to become Mykola Klim. The surname change of Mykola Zahurskyi, now Klim, is directly linked to a trail of contract killings and criminal activities dating back to the 1990s. Articles about the criminal activities of these individuals can easily be found online.

«Slon» - also known as Oleksandr Yeremichuk - is considered an influential smuggler in the western region and is currently hiding in Romania, as sanctions were imposed against him by the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) on April 2, 2021.

At one point, Oleksandr Yeremichuk - «Slon» - introduced Volodymyr Zahurskyi to the then-People’s Deputy Maksym Burbak. During the last elections in the Chernivtsi region, they placed their bets on the «For the Future» party, through which they attempted to push Volodymyr Zahurskyi into politics for the unhindered destruction of the future of Chernivtsi and its residents. Fortunately, the residents of Chernivtsi did not make a fatal mistake and did not elect this party to the Chernivtsi City Council. Had «Zahura» obtained the position of People’s Deputy, his plan was to control the city’s streets in line with his criminal past - using the ruthless methods of the 1990s. To achieve full control, the authority Zahurskyi decided to intimidate everyone. Through targeted actions, this individual sparked hostilities at the beginning of 2021 - specifically, on February 1, one of his subordinates, Stanislav Shamanskyi, set fire to a young man’s Mercedes-Benz in the Rosha district, and the next day, a similar arson occurred at the same location.

Also identified were individuals who were members of one of the existing criminal groups, who were engaged in arson, intimidation and other criminal acts on the orders of Zahurskyi. It is worth noting that all of them are currently serving sentences for their criminal actions. But it did not end there: in the summer, his wards, boxers from the Children’s and Youth Sports School (Volodymyr Zahurskyi is the President of the Boxing Federation), without any disguise, on a weekend on Kobylyanska Street in front of many Chernivtsi residents, including young children and tourists, a whole gang of 7 people, namely Stas Dyedov, Stanislav Shamanskyi, Vitaliy Zahariy, Elchin Aliyev, openly beat a young man, being armed, without even hiding their faces.

Fortunately, no one was in the garage at the time, and only the cars inside were damaged. By the way, all these incidents are registered in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (ERDR), but the cases do not progress beyond the register, as Russia and the FSB have significant influence in the western region.

However, all the aforementioned actions can only be regarded as acts of intimidation; the real war will ignite later.

On August 14, 2021, under Zahurskyi’s orders, Stanislav Shamanskyi inflicted a gunshot wound on a young man, leaving the victim in critical condition in the intensive care unit. Doctors fought for his life, and the young man was saved, but unfortunately, he remained disabled. Law enforcement agencies seemed to react, but the FSB scheme did not fail this time either - the case was «resolved».

In September of the same year, members of the same group inflicted bodily harm on one of their own businessmen in broad daylight right near the SSU office, because he, realizing the enormous risk to his life, decided not to communicate or finance this organized crime group (OCG) in the future.

All the aforementioned incidents have been recorded and, it seems, are being investigated.

On September 9, 2021, Volodymyr Zahurskyi, through his «thugs», arranged the arson of a car belonging to a manager and valuable employee of Chernivtsi City Council Deputy Valeriy Chynush - the owner of the «Bukovyna» hotel and the «Nashe Pyvo» establishments - to force him to support his allies in the Chernivtsi City Council and to ensure he wouldn’t dare oppose the political interests of Vitaliy Mykhailishyn and Vasyl Prodan.

At the same time, Shamanskyi, a former law enforcement officer who became a cold-blooded bandit-murderer, should be charged under a special article. On the orders of «Zahura», he burned down the house of a community head at night. Fortunately, there were no casualties, as the community head’s wife and children were inside. Local police seemed unable to ignore such an event and allegedly «arrested» Shamanskyi, but his boss, through a controlled lawyer, Ivasyuk - who, by the way, is also a cocaine enthusiast like «Zahura» - secured Shamanskyi’s release on a 200,000 hryvnia bail. The next day, Zahurskyi, accompanied by Shamanskyi and several other OCG members, went to the gym together and then to a joint lunch to show everyone that the Russian Kremlin is stronger than the NSDC. That evening, Zahurskyi spread rumors through his schemers that he has a hitman who can resolve any issue with people he cannot control, making it clear that in return for being saved from prison, «Shaman» will now have to work off his freedom.

Separately, I would like to focus on the figure of pseudo-journalist Vasyl Zabrodskyi, who, for money from Zahurskyi, is ready to call white black and vice versa, and to smear anyone «Zahura» points a finger at and pays generously for it.

In the Chernivtsi region, Vasyl Zabrodskyi is a fairly well-known personality, unfortunately, for negative and far from professional reasons. Zabrodskyi is notorious as an avid poker and gambling player, as well as a regular at illegal casinos under control, while also having a fondness for cocaine.

Furthermore, one cannot overlook the open connections of Mr. Zahurskyi with «thieves in law». This refers to his fully controlled and «overseer» for Chernivtsi, a trusted representative of thieves in the city, as well as a person who spreads the criminal influence of thieves in law - Yuriy Sushynskyi, nicknamed «Monakh».

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This person has been a close and trusted associate of Zahurskyi for over 10 years, since the time when Sushynskyi was the «overseer» of the Chernivtsi pre-trial detention center, from where he began to spread the criminal influence of thieves in law and collect funds for financing the criminal underworld, thereby creating threats to national security.

What actions are being taken by the SSU in this regard? They believe everything is under control, as their Security Service of Ukraine officer, Vadym Rahulskyi, head of the «K» sector, is on Zahurskyi’s payroll and, by all means, loyally and faithfully works for his money. In every possible way, he whitewashes Zahurskyi and protects him as if he were his best friend and comrade.

But let’s return to the figure of «Monakh», who, in October of this year, was ordered by «Zahura» to attend a thieves’ meeting in Turkey, supposedly for the birthday of a «thief in law» with the criminal nickname «Antimos», but in reality, the meeting was for the gathering of a criminal association. «Monakh» sent his trusted person to Turkey for the meeting, who delivered the association to the criminal world.

The horror of the situation is that these individuals disregard the SSU and NSDC to such an extent that they openly record videos and take photos, proudly showing their support for «thieves in law». Neither sanctions nor articles in the criminal code for such actions seem to concern them.

What can our state respond to this? Will there be sanctions? Will such a President continue to lead the Boxing Federation and destroy the lives of Chernivtsi residents, ruining the lawful perspectives of young athletes and further recruiting them into crime?..