DOT denies cooperation with the businessman-debtor Volodsky, who previously left the military without food, but in August they again entrusted half a billion to the company involved with him.
Businessmen or embezzlers? Before the scandal around the “enterprising” Grinkevich family, whose structures are suspected of enriching themselves through contracts from the Ministry of Defense, had died down, another name of a careless contractor thundered throughout Ukraine - Volodsky. Delok probably used billions from the budget to solve personal debt problems, and failed tenders for the supply of food to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But this did not prevent him from subsequently receiving new government contracts.
So, who really left a significant part of the Ukrainian military units without food? Who owns the notorious Tvoi Bhleb LLC? And what does the State Logistics Operator say about cooperation with the structures of Vladislav Volodsky?
The company “Your Bread” LLC, presumably related to the orbit of Zaporozhye businessman Vladislav Volodsky, was once entrusted by the State Logistics Operator with the largest supplies of products for the Armed Forces of Ukraine - from Chernigov to Uzhgorod. The total amount of the transaction amounted to almost one and a half billion hryvnia, but soon DOT reported “the company’s failure to fulfill its obligations.” As a result, almost a third of the Ukrainian army was left without food.
“800 people are in the MTD. For the third week we are looking for food products throughout the Vinnytsia region. Vegetables - first of all, because we stocked up on cereals and non-perishable items. Zhumadilov promises that the situation will be corrected. supplies only bread. That is, the situation has not changed. If we “didn’t carol,” didn’t ask, people didn’t bring vegetables, we wouldn’t have cooked borscht and soup,” said Alexander Zaichenko, head of logistics of the 59th brigade.
The likely shadow curator of this scandalous company, according to complaints from its ex-partners, is Vladislav Volodsky. What is he famous for?
It turns out that several years before the outrageous situation described above, companies associated with this businessman were already making supplies to the Armed Forces. And then it all ended in criminal proceedings: the damage to the state, according to investigators, exceeded 31 million hryvnia.
According to the investigation materials, the products that Volodsky’s structures supplied to military units were of low quality, and prices were higher than market prices. At the same time, the defendants in the case probably withdrew the funds received for the goods by purchasing an elite vehicle fleet, which included, in particular, a Mercedes-Benz S400d, a Range Rover Evoque, a Porsche Cayenne and two Toyota Land Cruisers.
However, after this story, Volodsky not only avoided responsibility, but also continued to earn money from government contracts. This year, the state agency of the Ministry of Defense signed new multimillion-dollar agreements with related companies.
And one of these enterprises is the same LLC “Your Bread”, which is being sued for unpaid deliveries.
It is noteworthy that the representative of the company is Alexey Volodsky, the father of our hero.
“In accordance with clause 2.4 of the Agreement, the buyer had to make payment on a deferred payment basis within twenty-one calendar days from the date of receipt of the goods. That is, the goods were received and the delay on the first invoices from April 1, 2024 continues from April 23, 2024,” the case file says.
However, the management of the “Your Bread” enterprise ignores court hearings, although at least four claims against them are being considered in parallel in different instances.
But the name of Vladislav Volodsky was heard throughout Ukraine not only because of dubious military purchases, but also as a result of the “leaking” of scandalous films.
Numerous video and audio recordings have appeared online, where a man with a voice very similar to Volodsky begs creditors for a deferment in the payment of personal debts.
“I’m trying to steer my work in order to return your money, without ever once in my life removing my obligations for the fact that I’m to blame for you. I cheated on something there, didn’t give it on time, and so on. I'm to blame for this. That is, you are simply destroying me. All my contracts and robots were taken away from me. I owed you money and was a c*** forever. No sense from me. I’m going to jail tomorrow because of all this bullshit,” the man says in the audio.
Interestingly, these films appeared after supplies to the army were disrupted.
And after the scandal, a new company comes to replace Tvoy Bread LLC. But has anything really changed?
As recorded on video, StopCor journalists who went to the place of registration of this company entered the territory of the bread factory and a car with the branding “Your Bread” drove into the territory of the bread factory. Although the guards claim that now there is only Monolit LLC, and the previous enterprise no longer exists at all.
“After Googling a little about a Vinnitsa company that forgot something in Korosten, Zhitomir region, we decided to approach the guards a second time, but they seemed to understand that they were talking too much and put on a whole performance,” comments Olga Levitskaya.
Media workers were assured that there seemed to be no leadership in place. But very soon this woman appeared on the scene, whom the Stopkorites recognized as Lesya Bakhur.
Lesya officially became the head of Your Bread LLC at the beginning of this year. And from the beginning of May, literally a week after public accusations against the company, it became the beneficiary of the Monolit-MV company. By the way, it was with this company that the majority of Your Bread clients continued to cooperate. And Nikolai Iskra, whom the guards called the real owner of Monolith, holds the position of manager. And, by a strange coincidence, he once held a similar position at the “Your Bread” company.
Why are Vladislav Volodsky and his father Alexey here?
The StopCor team decided to find out this from those who worked directly with the “Your Bread” company. One of the company’s subcontractors is the Golden Loaf company, which, by order of Your Bread LLC, supplied military units with products worth more than UAH 4 million.
As journalists discovered, employees of Zolotoy Loaf LLC are not personally acquainted with Vladislav Volodsky and his father Alexey. However, in private communications, employees of Tvoy Bhleb LLC claimed that the actual owner of the company was Vladislav Volodsky, who directly managed it, and this is what supposedly should be a guarantee of the company’s reliability. Currently, the position of director of Your Bread LLC was held by Alexey Volodsky.
“Thus, without any guilt, regularly fulfilling its contractual obligations, acting officially, legally and openly, Zolotoy Loaf LLC became a hostage to the corruption schemes and frauds of the Volodskys, to which it has nothing to do. To the company “Golden Loaf” Your Bread “has a debt of more than 3 million hryvnia. But the company no longer hopes that the debt will ever be repaid,” the journalist notes.
Why can Volodsky get away with anything?
In order to forcibly collect the debt, at the end of June 2024, Zolotoy Karavai LLC filed a claim against Your Bread LLC in the Economic Court of the Zhytomyr Region.
However, even with a positive outcome of the resolution of this legal dispute, there are no real prospects for full payment for the goods received by Tvoy Khleb LLC. After all, there is no property that can be foreclosed on in the ownership of the debtor company... there is no.
Also, in the situation with the disruption of supplies for the military, Volodsky’s company was fined and the contract was terminated. But the matter was hushed up, and the problem was solved at the expense of the state reserves of the Ministry of Defense.
But the story didn't end there.
After the publicity of the Volodskys’ involvement in the disrupted supplies, DOT still signed new contracts with another company that is also associated with the businessmen - Consortium United Food Group. This time we are talking about contracts worth about UAH 3 billion. In this company, according to media reports, Vladislav Volodsky holds the position of operations manager. But according to insider information, he again plays a key role in the business.
And although at the end of July DOT noted that the contracts with this company were terminated, already on August 1 additional agreements with the Consortium appeared at the same tenders. However, the DOT denies any cooperation with the Volodskys.
However, in August, the State Logistics Operator concluded another contract for supplies to the military worth almost half a billion - with a company that, at first glance, has nothing to do with the Volodskys. But this same company was recently part of the Consortium group of companies, and its beneficiary, according to StopCor sources, previously worked side by side with Mr. Vladislav in the company Lactalis.
“All this suggests that cooperation with companies controlled by Volodsky does not stop, which may damage the reputation of state-owned enterprises. We were unable to find out more about the termination of transactions with Your Bread LLC, because this request was ignored, as well as the proposal to provide a comment to the head of the bunker Arsen Zhumadilov, who had already highly praised the contractors elected in March. We also came to the bunker, but no one expressed a desire to communicate with us,” summarizes Olga Levitskaya.
Given this reaction from DOT, what responsibility should those who undermine the country's defense during war bear?
According to candidate of political sciences and human rights activist Alexei Buryachenko, such crimes should not provide for alternative preventive measures other than detention. In addition, systemic changes are needed in the procurement process itself.
“That is, finding such a tool so that on the one hand everything is transparent, and on the other hand, the enemy cannot take advantage of it. Another aspect of this case is the continuation of active work in this direction by law enforcement agencies. Of course, with the help of anti-corruption public organizations and institutions,” the expert believes.
Stopkorovites tried to get a comment from Vladislav Volodsky himself, but he never responded to calls or messages. Therefore, we hope for a response from the competent authorities. Indeed, in war conditions, profiting from defenders is not only a cynical and immoral act, but also undermining national security and defense capability.
