Medical commission chief found hiding $425 thousand and son’s Russian passport at home

Source: Ukraine’s Security Service

Just a day after Ukraine’s president lashed out at corrupt medical commissions helping draft-dodgers,  the law-enforcement raid in Mykolaiv discovered over $450,000 in cash and a stash of luxury jewelry owned by the Mykolaiv medical commission chief inspector.

Stacks of the money and valuables were wisely stashed away in the apartment of her son, who works as an intern at a local medical institution. Investigators also found a Russian passport, issued in his name at the Russian consulate in Odesa before the Feb.22 invasion.

The investigation revealed that the official declared an income of about 2 million hryvnias. She though failed to report her side hustle concealing her illegal earnings as well as three undeclared apartments in her son’s name.

In a further twist, it was uncovered that she arranged for herself and her son to be classified as having a second-degree disability to secure extra social benefits and state payments.

Investigation is still underway before prosecutors have enough evidence to formally charge the official and determine preventive measures against her.

In 2025, the deadliest year yet for civilians, Ukraine’s three largest charitable foundations raised a record 105.9 billion hryvnias. It is more than the years 2022–2024 combined. According to the UN, humanitarian aid in Ukraine was delivered by more than 450 organisations, reaching five million people over the course of the year. Civic foundations hold licences to purchase lethal weapons, which is a function states have monopolised for centuries. These record sums were underwritten by international government grants, which means foreign states now channel billions directly through Ukrainian civic funds, bypassing inter-state channels. It is hard to imagine a stronger institutional trust in civil society.

During the GLOBSEC Defence Forum 2026 in Prague, representatives of “Steel Front”, an initiative by Rinat Akhmetov, discussed with NATO delegations, military officials, and representatives of the European defense industry the lessons learned from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

After the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine witnessed an unprecedented wave of private support for the army. Citizens, big businesses, charitable foundations, and international philanthropists began financing the country’s defense alongside state assistance provided by international partners. Estimates of total private contributions range from tens to hundreds of billions of hryvnias. However, determining the exact amount remains difficult. In many cases, companies combine military aid, humanitarian programs, tax payments, social spending, and employee support in their reporting.

Rinat Akhmetov’s military initiative, “Steel Front”, has delivered a batch of drones worth UAH 214 million to the 1st “Azov” Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine. This shipment is part of the Metinvest Group’s ongoing support for the unit in 2025.

On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.