What we know about luxury estates at the center of Ukraine's biggest corruption probe

A secretive luxury residential compound allegedly built for Volodymyr Zelensky's inner circle could become the corruption scandal that defines his presidency.

The prosecution alleges that within four years, nearly $9 million was laundered through the construction of a cottage complex — four expensive houses near Kyiv, each roughly 1,000 square meters in size.

According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), the houses were allegedly meant for former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov, businessman Timur Mindich, and ex-President's Office Head Andriy Yermak.

All three, along with four other people, were charged in the case.

The same group of people has been under investigation in a $100 million probe centered around the state nuclear monopoly Energoatom. Suspects in the Energoatom case allegedly gave money to Deputy Prime Minister Chernyshov for the construction of the high-end houses near Kyiv, tying the two cases together, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent.

The Kyiv Independent gathered what we know and what we don't in the case everyone in Ukraine is talking about.

What construction are we talking about?

The four private homes are located in Kozyn — an elitist residential area south of Kyiv. The area is home to high-level officials, politicians, and businessmen.

The corruption trail among top officials began to surface around Chernyshov, a friend of Zelensky's family who quickly climbed the political ladder.

The development project started in 2018, when Chernyshov became a co-founder of Bloom Development company. Within a year, the company purchased over 4 hectares of land in Kozyn and later expanded the plot. Before being appointed Kyiv Oblast governor, Chernyshov transferred his stake to his wife, who formally exited the business in 2023, while he was heading Naftogas, a state-owned gas company.

According to the anti-corruption bureau, during his time as communities and territories minister in 2020-2022, Chernyshov and his associates undervalued land plots to benefit a developer in exchange for kickbacks.

Chernyshov and his accomplices allegedly received "significant" discounts on apartments in newly built apartment buildings, totaling over Hr 14.5 million ($346,000), from the developer. The actions cost Ukraine Hr 1 billion ($24 million), according to NABU.

According to investigators, roughly at the same time, Chernyshov helped launch the luxury homes project at the center of the ongoing corruption probe. The idea for the project took shape in 2020, when he brought in Mindich and later Yermak, the bureau said.

According to the bureau, the projects were disguised under codenames R1, R2, R3, and R4 to conceal real owners. Separately, there was also a shared fifth residence, R0, meant for spa, swimming pool, and gym.

The entire construction site exceeded 8 hectares and could be worth over $6 million, according to the anti-corruption bureau. The prosecution said that the investigation has not yet determined the real value of the houses.

The active phase of construction began in May 2020, during Chernyshov's tenure as minister, and accelerated further shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

"I told… to slowly start working again. We should keep moving forward somehow. The windows, roof, and tiles should be arriving soon… Everything had already been ordered," Chernyshov allegedly wrote to his wife on March 29, as fighting continued on the outskirts of Kyiv.

NABU published correspondence showing Yermak, linked to the second house (R2), messaging a designer on Feb. 16, 2022, about how the work was going days before the full-scale invasion.

Amid concerns over possible exposure of the scheme, Mindich allegedly decided to halt construction in July 2025, shortly after Chernyshov was formally charged in the land plots for kickbacks corruption scheme.

That same month, Zelensky's administration moved to crush the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption institutions — the same ones that are now exposing the president's associates' alleged corruption.

Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court has now seized the land plots and five unfinished residences.

In total, Chernyshov has faced three charges. He denies wrongdoing.

How was it financed?

Anti-corruption agencies say the houses were funded in two ways.

People linked to Chernyshov set up a housing cooperative (co-op) called "Soniachnyi Bereh" ("Sunny Shore"), which collected and used at least part of the money for construction. The same people allegedly received money for supposedly providing services from shell companies and companies in the pharmaceutical sector.

This way accounted for about 10% of the project's total funding.

Most of the funding for the cottage complex, however, allegedly came from illicit sources and was distributed through cash payments to workers involved in the construction.

Prosecutors say 72% of the funding came from criminal activity.

Investigators allege that more than Hr 460 million ($8.9 million) spent on the project originated from a multi-million-dollar corruption scheme centered on the state nuclear monopoly Energoatom.

According to the bureau, senior Energoatom officials allegedly collected kickbacks of 10–15% from contractors in exchange for preserving their supplier status and ensuring their products and services were not blocked.

The money was later invested in the luxury construction site.

Was the fourth house meant for Zelensky?

Investigators have not revealed who the fourth house, codenamed R1, was meant for.

In late April, Ukrainska Pravda published leaked transcripts of an alleged conversation between Mindich and Natalia, described as a person involved in the actual construction.

According to the media outlet, Natalia says the facades inside "Andriy's" project are already completed, and that a fence now separates Mindich's house from "Vova's," a short form of the name Volodymyr.

In the conversation, Mindich also reportedly says that Max Donets, identified by journalists as the head of Zelensky's personal security, is expected to arrive.

Semen Kryvonos, the head of NABU, said on May 12 that Zelensky is not implicated in the pre-trial investigation of the case. A sitting president is immune from prosecution under Ukrainian law.

The President's Office declined to comment on the investigation.

Note from the author:

Hello there! This is Kateryna Denisova, the author of this piece. Despite Russia's ongoing full-scale war, Ukraine's domestic politics has been back in the spotlight.

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