Before the occupation, "Selydivvuhillya" purchased special equipment from a manicurist and a lash maker

Before the occupation, "Selydivvuhillya" purchased special equipment from a manicurist and a lash maker

On October 30, 2024, Russian invaders captured Selydove in the Donetsk region. The state coal mining enterprise “Selydivvuhillya” also fell under occupation. Although this SE had been unprofitable for the last ten years, every year it signed contracts worth several hundred million hryvnias. In the last couple of years, two businesswomen mastered the enterprise’s funds.

The editorial team of investigations at Suspilne found out that they are friends, registered as individual entrepreneurs in 2023, and after the occupation of Selydove, they synchronously ceased activities. While they allegedly supplied "Selydivvuhillya" with goods, they worked in the capital’s beauty salons.

How much and on what the manicurist and lash maker earned and who possibly stands behind them is reported by Suspilne journalists.

“Prepared” for occupation since spring

The state enterprise "Selydivvuhillya", according to the analytical system YouControl, has within its structure four mines: "Kurakhivska" in the village of Hirnyk, "Novohrodivska" in Selydove, "Ukraina" in the city of Ukrainsk, and "Kotlyarevska" in the city of Novohrodivka. All of them found themselves under occupation in October 2024.

The ex-director of the enterprise, Serhiy Kobylyatskyi, along with the Deputy Minister of Energy Oleksandr Kheilo, has been suspected since August 2024 of extortion and receiving 300,000 USD (three parts of a total bribe amounting to half a million USD, divided into five installments) for transferring equipment from SE “Selydivvuhillya” mines to SE “Volynvuhillya”.

The transfer of equipment was planned due to the threat of occupation. And as  Radio Liberty writes, coal industry representatives approached Oleksandr Kheilo in spring seeking permission for such a transfer.

What the enterprise purchased

Despite the approaching front and the threat of occupation, SE "Selydivvuhillya" continued purchases. For eight months of 2024, it concluded contracts worth 214 million hryvnias. The last of them, according to the ProZorro analytical module, is dated August 16.

In 2023, the enterprise contracted goods, services, and works worth 615 million hryvnias. This is twice as much as in the first year of the full-scale invasion.

The predominant part of the funds was spent on purchasing electricity. The rest went to equipment, machinery, spare parts, machinery or equipment repair, as well as wood, fuel, lubricants, and coal.

The enterprise partially conducted tenders, partially signed direct contracts with suppliers.

The cooperation with two businesswomen drew attention, who registered their activities during the full-scale invasion. The enterprise signed contracts worth 12.5 million hryvnias with twenty-year-old friends: Alina Smyordova and Valeriya Zhyrkova.

The video shows businesswomen who signed contracts with SE "Selydivvuhillya"

Mining supports from Valeria

Valeriya Zhyrkova, born in 2004, registered as a businesswoman in her native Zaporizhzhya on July 25, 2023. Main activity — non-specialized wholesale trade.

The first agreement recorded by the electronic procurement system Valeriya signed in August 2023 with SE "Myrnohradvuhillya". But it was terminated. The businesswoman was supposed to sell a seal for 70 thousand hryvnias.

She signed a contract worth 85 thousand hryvnias with SE "Selydivvuhillya" without a competition in September 2023 for the supply of ten hydraulic distributors.

Zhyrkova’s main income from deals with "Selydivvuhillya" was the sale of pine mining supports used to reinforce mine workings. The total amount of such contracts was 4 million 800 thousand, with 2 million 600 thousand hryvnias for contracts in 2024.

Through Zhyrkova’s phone number, we found her Instagram profile, as well as several Telegram-channel ads looking for manicure models. According to the published photos and videos, Zhyrkova is a manicure master and runs an Instagram page “Le.nails.kyiv”. Her office is near the "Kontraktova Ploshcha" metro station.

Journalists also learned about her friendship with Alina Smyordova from Valeriya’s social networks: they relax together after work, traveled to Odesa, Bukovel. The girls often comment on each other’s personal photos on Instagram.

Alina supplied special equipment

Alina Smyordova, born in 2003. From documents she submitted for tenders, it is known she is from Bakhmut, Donetsk region. She registered entrepreneurship in Sofiivska Borshchahivka near Kyiv — at her mother’s address, Nataliya Smyordova.

Through the phone number Alina specified in contracts with SE, we found several of her ads looking for eyelash extension models. Similarly, we found her Instagram page with her work results “Al.lash_kyiv”. However, the last post on the page was on March 28, 2023. In May 2024, Alina was looking for employees for a summer café in Kyiv’s HydrPark.

Alina Smyordova registered as a businesswoman on October 31, 2023. The type of activity was wholesale trade in timber, building materials, and sanitary equipment. She participated in Selydivvuhillya’s tenders for selling two types of roller supports for 1 million 870 thousand hryvnias already on November 3. Despite two cheaper offers at the trades, she won — competitors did not submit all documents.

In 2023, Alina had one more contract with SE for 99 thousand hrn for supplying high-pressure hoses and couplings, as well as a separate agreement with the "Ukraine" mine for 55 thousand hrn.

And in 2024, through trades or direct contracts, SE "Selydivvuhillya" signed contracts with her for 3 million 800 thousand hryvnias: for roller supports, hoses, and fittings, hydraulic motors, and pumps.

Did not want to comment: neither the girls nor officials

To ensure that Valeriya and Alina are still working in the beauty industry, we tried to schedule an appointment for a manicure and eyelash extensions through their Instagram pages. We received a reply only from Valeriya’s page “Le.nails.kyiv.” Messages to Alina remained unanswered.

We called the girls. Both picked up and responded in their names, but when they heard a journalist from Suspilne was calling about contracts with SE “Selydivvuhillya,” they hung up. They did not answer anymore.

We tried to find out if all the contracts signed with the girls were paid for by contacting the current head of SE “Selydivvuhillya” Andriy Ihnatyev. However, he refused to answer. He suggested contacting the “Ministry of Coal Industry,” probably meaning the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine.

We sent inquiries about the work of the mines and “Selydivvuhillya” contracts to the Donetsk Regional Military Administration and the Ministry of Energy. The administration responded that they do not possess the requested information. And the ministry refused to provide data, stating that this is restricted information as the energy sector is one of the main targets of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.

Connections between the girls and a Donetsk-Kyiv businessman

To confirm the experience needed to sign contracts with SE, Alina Smyordova and Valeriya Zhyrkova submitted contracts with the firms “Golden Life” and “Rober”.

According to the analytical system YouControl, Alina Smyordova has been recorded as the director of “Golden Life” since April 2023. The company, registered in Dnipro since 2019, sells machinery and equipment for the mining industry and construction. The firm was also a supplier to SE “Selydivvuhillya” and has contracts worth 5 and a half million hryvnias.

The owner of “Golden Life” and “Rober” is Dmytro Aheyev, 49 years old

Dmytro Aheyev has been registered as an entrepreneur in Kyiv since May 27, 2020, with the main activity being wholesale trade in timber, construction materials, and sanitary equipment. As a private entrepreneur, he himself sold timber and special equipment to “Selydivvuhillya” since approximately 2021. The total amount of contracts is almost 15 million hryvnias.

Public information about Dmytro before 2021 is sparse: he is from Donetsk, and at various times, he was a co-founder, co-owner, or director of coal mining or trading associations registered in Donetsk (“PCF “Maxi-Met”, “Dossan”, “Hard Coal”, “Garant”), Mariupol (“Pivnichne”), Kyiv (“Rober”), and Dnipro (“Golden Life”).

Donetsk firms “PCF “Maxi-Met”, “Pivnichnoe”, and “Dossan” were re-registered to other owners between 2009 and 2014. Financial reports of these companies have been absent in the YouControl system since 2016. They probably are inactive or have fallen under Russian control or influence.

Today the Mariupol association “Hard Coal” remains in the co-ownership of Dmytro Aheyev. Reports have been absent since its founding.

The associations “Rober” and “Golden Life” mentioned are involved in criminal proceedings. The first among companies, which, according to the investigation, was established through front individuals and created for illegal financial withdrawal facilitating tax evasion. The second is involved in a case of embezzlement. According to the investigation, officials of SE “Dobropilliavuhillya-vydobutok” conspired with representatives of LLC “Golden Life” and other firms to conclude agreements for equipment and works at inflated prices.

In April 2022, Dmytro Aheyev founded a charitable organization “CF “Guardians of Safety”: initially registered in Zaporizhzhya and “moved” to the capital from September 2024.

Since January 10, 2022, Aheyev has been acting as the director of the state enterprise “Zaporizhzhya Expert and Technical Center of State Labor”. This SE is currently under liquidation, and its property complex was sold at an auction in 2023 for 13 million hryvnias.

The main activity of this enterprise is technical testing and research. Interestingly, 11 months ago, a company in Kyiv with a similar type of activity, “CEBRO“, was registered in the name of 20-year-old Alina Smyordova.

Chief accountant at the SE “Zaporizhzhya ETC of State Labor” is Olha Sukhenko. Her husband, Ihor Sukhenko, also worked there earlier. Starting from 2023, he began selling equipment and timber to state coal enterprises: “Selydivvuhillya”, “Myrnohradvuhillya”, and “Dobropillya-vydobutok”. Over one and a half years, the man contracted 18 and a half million hryvnias.

We called Ihor Sukhenko at the number listed in the contracts, but when he heard the call concerned contracts with “Selydivvuhillya”, he responded, “I’m not very comfortable talking right now. I have nothing to tell you,” and hung up.

“The coal remained in the occupied territory” — Aheyev

Dmytro Aheyev responded to our questions. He said that coal mining enterprises owe him and his firms, but he doesn’t remember the debt amount. He clarified that such a debt exists "to everyone".

According to Aheyev, he started selling special equipment and timber to coal mining enterprises because he worked in the mines himself: “I didn’t ask the state for help; I tried to engage in what I know and can.”

When asked if Alina Smyordova and Valeriya Zhyrkova work for him, Aheyev replied: “No. Well, Alina Smyordova is a director at the enterprise. And Zhyrkova — I don’t know who she is. You know, I don’t keep track of people: where and what they do. If they can earn money somewhere, good for them. Let them work.”

He also denied knowing Ihor Sukhenko.

We asked Dmytro Aheyev whether, in his opinion, it was reasonable to sign contracts for delivering timber and special equipment to the mines which had been under the threat of occupation since at least spring 2024.

“This is not a question for me,” Aheyev replied. “I’ll put it another way: I understand they took wood to reinforce the mine for extraction. No one stockpiled it. I think it was used at the moment of extraction. I don’t recall taking wood when they (Russian troops — ed.) approached very closely. And equipment is always taken minimally — so that the mine is somehow afloat.”

According to Aheyev, the mines operated in 2023 and 2024.

“I know the coal wasn’t exported. It remained in the occupied territory. Why didn’t management handle this — the mine’s management and further up — I don’t know. Debts could have been settled by selling coal,” Aheyev added.

Dmytro Aheyev also stated that he had been dismissed from SE “Zaporizhzhya ETC of State Labor”, like all other employees. He claims to have moved to Kyiv in 2014.

Aheyev’s and his relatives’ assets

According to Aheyev’s declaration, he currently owns only a land plot in Donetsk region. But his wife Yuliya and daughter Mariya own four apartments in the capital: on Levko Lukyanenko Street, Ivasyuk Street, and two in the “French Quarter-2” residential complex near the “Lybidska” metro station.

In addition, Aheyev declared his wife’s apartment and residential house with a plot in Donetsk.

In 2018, his wife and daughter got new cars: a “Land Rover” from 2017 and a “Mazda 3” from 2018.

When Aheyev submitted the candidate declaration for the position of director of the “Zaporizhzhya ETC of State Labor” state enterprise for 2020, his income was low: a salary of 56 thousand hryvnias at “Edstar” LLC and 34 thousand hryvnias of entrepreneurial income.

However, since 2022, when he began managing the state enterprise, his entrepreneurial income has significantly increased — to over 200 thousand hryvnias per month. In February 2024 alone, “Selydivvuhillya” paid him 675 thousand hryvnias.

Aheyev did not indicate the entrepreneurial income of his wife and daughter, although both are registered as individual entrepreneurs. Currently, according to Aheyev, they live abroad. He remains in Ukraine.

In a comment to Suspilne, Aheyev claimed that the family earned the property in the capital through years of work and by selling real estate they had in Donetsk.

Author: Myroslava Prymak

Source: SUSPILNE