On October 30, 2024, the Russians captured the town of Selydove, Donetsk region. The coal mining state enterprise "SelydivCoal" also found itself under occupation. Although this state-owned enterprise has been unprofitable for the past ten years, it concluded contracts worth several hundred million hryvnias every year. During the two past years, among the enterprise’s suppliers, there were two entrepreneurs. The Suspilne investigative editorial office has found out that they are friends, were registered as individual entrepreneurs in 2023, and after the occupation of Selydove, they simultaneously stopped their activities. At the time when they supposedly supplied goods to "SelydivCoal", they worked in beauty salons in Kyiv.
The Suspilne investigation tells how much money and for what the manicurist and the lashmaker earned, and who, supposedly, is behind them.
They "were preparing" for the occupation from spring
According to the data from the analytical system YouControl, the state-owned enterprise "SelydivCoal" has four mines in its structure: "Kurakhivska" in the village of Hirnyk, "Novohrodivska" in Selydove, "Ukraine" in the town of Ukrainsk, and "Kotliarevska" in the town of Novohrodivka. All of them were occupied in October 2024.
Since August 2024, the former director of the enterprise, Serhii Kobyliatskyi, and deputy energy minister Oleksandr Heil have been suspected of extorting and receiving USD 300 thousand (three parts of the total bribe of half a million dollars, which was divided into five installments) for transferring equipment from the mines of the state-owned enterprise "SelydivCoal" to the state-owned enterprise "VolynCoal".
The equipment was planned to be transferred due to the threat of occupation. According to Radio Free Europe, back in the spring, the representatives of the coal mining industry turned to Oleksandr Heil for permission for such a transfer.
The purchases of the enterprise
Despite the approaching frontline and the threat of occupation, "SelydivCoal" continued to carry out purchases. During the eight months of 2024, it concluded contracts worth 214 million hryvnias. The last of them, according to the "Prozoro" analytics module, was dated August 16.
In 2023, the enterprise contracted goods, services, and works worth 615 million hryvnias. This was twice as much as in the first year of the full-scale invasion.
Most of the funds were spent on purchasing electricity. The rest went on equipment, machinery, spare parts, repairs to machinery and equipment, timber, fuel, lubricants, and coal.
The enterprise partly held bidding procedures and partly signed direct contracts with suppliers.
We paid special attention to the cooperation of the state-owned enterprise with two entrepreneurs who registered their activities during the full-scale invasion. The enterprise signed contracts worth 12.5 million hryvnias with two twenty-year-old friends: Alina Smordova and Valeriia Zhyrkova.
The video features entrepreneurs who concluded contracts with the state-owned enterprise "SelydivCoal"
Mine props from Valeriia
Valeriia Zhyrkova was born in 2004. She was registered as an entrepreneur in her native Zaporizhzhia on July 25, 2023. Her main activity is non-specialized wholesale trade.
In August 2023, Valeriia signed the first contract recorded in the electronic procurement system with the state enterprise "MyrnohradCoal". However, it was terminated. The entrepreneur was supposed to sell the face seal for 70 thousand hryvnias.
In September 2023, without a bidding procedure, she signed a contract with the state-owned enterprise “SelydivCoal’ for 85 thousand hryvnias for the supply of ten hydraulic distributors.
Zhyrkova’s main income from contracts with "SelydivCoal" is the sale of coniferous mine props, which are used to strengthen mines. The total amount of such contracts is 4.8 million hryvnias, of which 2.6 million hryvnias are for contracts in 2024.
Using Zhyrkova’s phone number, we found her Instagram page, as well as several ads on the Telegram channel about the search for manicure models. According to the published photos and videos, Zhyrkova is a manicurist and runs the Instagram page called "Le.nails.kyiv". Her office is near the Kontraktova Ploshcha metro station in Kyiv.
From Valeriia’s social media, we also learned about her friendship with Alina Smordova: they relax together after work, visited Odesa, Bukovel. The women often comment on each other’s personal photos on Instagram.
Alina supplied special equipment
Alina Smordova was born in 2003. From the documents that she submitted for bidding procedures, it is known that she is from Bakhmut, Donetsk region. She registered her business in the village of Sofiivska Borshchahivka near Kyiv, at the address of her mother Nataliia Smordova.
Using the phone number that Alina indicated in her contracts with the state-owned enterprise, we found several of her ads in which she searches for models for eyelash extension. We also found the Instagram page that shows her work — "Al.lash_kyiv". However, the last post on the page was on March 28, 2023. In May 2024, Alina was looking for personnel for a summer cafe in the Hydro Park in Kyiv.
Alina Smordova was registered as an entrepreneur on October 31, 2023. Her type of activity is wholesale trade of timber, construction materials, and sanitary equipment. Already on November 3, she took part in the "SelydivCoal" bidding procedure for two types of roller bearings worth 1 million 870 thousand hryvnias. Despite the fact that there were two cheaper offers, the woman won the bidding because the competitors did not submit all the documents.
In 2023, Alina had another contract with the state-owned enterprise for UAH 99,000 for the supply of high-pressure hoses and couplings, as well as a separate contract with the "Ukraine" mine for UAH 55,000.
In 2024, via bidding and direct agreements, "SelydivCoal" signed contracts with her worth 3 million 800 thousand hryvnias: for roller bearings, hoses and fittings, hydraulic motors and pumps.
Neither women nor officials agreed to comment
To make sure that Valeriia and Alina are still working in the beauty industry, we tried to sign up for a manicure and eyelash extension through their Instagram pages. We received the answer only from Valeriia’s page "Le.nails.kyiv". Messages to Alina remained unanswered.
We called both women. Both picked up the phone and confirmed their names. However, when they heard that the Suspilne journalist was calling to ask questions about contracts with the state enterprise "SelydivCoal", they both ended the conversation. They never answered again.
From the current head of the state enterprise "SelydivCoal" Andrii Ihnatiev, we tried to find out whether all the contracts concluded with the women were paid for. However, he refused to answer. He said to contact the "Ministry of Coal Industry" with such questions, probably meaning the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine.
We contacted the Donetsk regional military administration and the Ministry of Energy with inquiries about the operation of the mines and the contracts of "SelydivCoal". The regional administration replied that they did not have the requested information. The Ministry refused to provide the data, saying that this information is with restricted access, since the energy sector is one of the main targets of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine.
Connections of the women with a Donetsk-Kyiv businessman
To confirm the experience required to sign contracts with state-owned enterprises, Alina Smordova and Valeriia Zhyrkova submitted contracts with the companies "Golden Life" and "Rober".
According to the YouControl analytical system, Alina Smordova has been the director of "Golden Life" since April 2023. The company was registered in Dnipro in 2019 and sells machinery and equipment for the mining industry and construction. The company was also a supplier to the state-owned enterprise "SelydivCoal" and has contracts with it for 5.5 million hryvnias.
The owner of "Golden Life" and "Rober" is 49-year-old Dmytro Aheiev
Dmytro Aheiev was registered as an entrepreneur in Kyiv on May 27, 2020. His main activity is wholesale trade of timber, construction materials, and sanitary equipment. As an individual entrepreneur, he was selling timber and special equipment for "SelydivCoal" from approximately 2021. The total amount of contracts was almost 15 million hryvnias.
There is little public information about Dmytro before 2021: he is from Donetsk, and at various times he was a co-founder, co-owner, or director of coal mining or trading companies registered in Donetsk ("VKF "Maxi-Met", "Dossan", "Hard Coal", "Garant"), Mariupol ("Pivnichne"), Kyiv ("Rober"), and Dnipro ("Golden Life").
Donetsk companies "VKF "Maxi-Met", "Pivnichne", and "Dossan" were re-registered for other owners between 2009 and 2014. The financial reports of these companies have not been available in the YouControl system since 2016. They are probably not operating or have come under Russian control.
The Mariupol company "Hard Coal" remains co-owned by Dmytro Aheiev. There have been no financial reports since the date of its foundation.
Aheiev’s companies "Rober" and "Golden Life" are subject to criminal proceedings. The first is among the companies that, according to the investigation, were registered as front companies and were founded to illegally withdraw money and facilitate tax evasion. The second is included in the case of embezzlement. According to the investigation, the officials of the state-owned enterprise "DobropilliaCoal-production" in collusion with the representatives of LLC "Golden Life" and other companies concluded contracts to purchase equipment and works at inflated prices.
In April 2022, Dmytro Aheiev founded the charitable organization "BF "Security Guards", which was initially registered in Zaporizhzhia and moved to the capital in September 2024.
Since January 10, 2022, Aheiev has also been working as the director of the state enterprise "Zaporizhzhia Expert and Technical Center of the State Labor Service". This state enterprise is currently being liquidated, and its property was sold at auction in 2023 for 13 million hryvnias.
The main activity of this enterprise is technical testing and research. It is interesting that 11 months ago, the "TSEBRO" company with the same type of activity was registered by 20-year-old Alina Smordova in Kyiv.
Olha Sukhenko is listed as the chief accountant at the state enterprise "Zaporizhzhia Expert and Technical Center of the State Labor Service". Her husband, Ihor Sukhenko, also worked there before. In 2023, he began selling equipment and timber to state-owned coal mining enterprises "SelydivCoal", "MyrnohradCoal", and "Dobropillia-production". During a year and a half, the man has contracted 18.5 million hryvnias.
We called Ihor Sukhenko using the phone number indicated in the contracts, but when he heard that the call concerned contracts with "SelydivCoal", he said, "I cannot talk right now. I have nothing to tell you," and hung up.
"Coal remained in the occupied territory," Aheiev says
Dmytro Aheiev answered our questions. He says that coal mining companies owe him and his companies, but he does not remember the amount of the debt. He specified that they owe "to everyone".
According to Aheiev, he started selling special equipment and timber for coal mining enterprises because he used to work in mines himself, "I did not ask the state for help, I tried to do what I know and what I can do".
When asked whether Alina Smordova and Valeriia Zhyrkova work for him, he replied, "No. Well, Alina Smordova is the director of the company. And I do not know who Zhyrkova is. You know, I do not follow people, where and what they do. If they can earn something somewhere — good for them. Let them work for themselves."
Aheiev also denied his acquaintance with Ihor Sukhenko.
We asked Dmytro Aheiev whether, in his opinion, it was appropriate to conclude contracts for the supply of timber and special equipment for mines that were under the threat of occupation from the spring of 2024.
"This question is not for me," Aheiev replied. "I will put it another way. As I understand, they were buying timber to secure the production in the mine. They were not buying it in advance. I think they were buying it to secure the mine at the time of extraction. I do not remember that they were buying timber when they (Russian troops — Ed.) were already very close. The equipment is always bought minimally so that the mine can live, at least stay afloat somehow."
According to Aheiev, the mines were operating in 2023 and 2024.
"I know that the coal was not brought out. It remained in the occupied territory. I do not know why the management did not deal with it — the management of the mine and so on up. The debts could have been paid out by selling the coal," Aheiev added.
Dmytro Aheiev also says that he has already been dismissed from the state enterprise "Zaporizhzhia Expert and Technical Center of the State Labor Service", like all other employees. He claims that he moved to Kyiv in 2014.
The property of Aheiev and his family
According to Dmytro Aheiev’s declaration, he currently owns only a land plot in Donetsk region. However, his wife Yuliia and daughter Maria have four apartments in the capital: on Levko Lukyanenko and Ivasiuk streets, and two apartments in the "French Quarter-2" residential complex, which is next to the Lybidska metro station.
In addition, Dmytro Aheiev indicated in the declaration an apartment and a residential house with a land plot belonging to his wife in Donetsk.
In 2018, his wife and daughter got new cars: a 2017 "Land Rover" and a 2018 "Mazda 3".
When Aheiev submitted the declaration for 2020 as a candidate for the position of the director of the state enterprise "Zaporizhzhia Expert and Technical Center of the State Labor Service", his indicated income was not high: a salary of 56 thousand hryvnias at "Edstar" LLC and 34 thousand hryvnias of income as an entrepreneur.
However, since 2022, when he became the director of the state-owned enterprise, his entrepreneurial income has grown significantly — to over 200 thousand hryvnias per month. In February 2024 alone, "SelydivCoal" paid him 675 thousand hryvnias.
Aheiev did not indicate the income of his wife and daughter from entrepreneurial activities, although both are registered as individual entrepreneurs. Now, according to Aheiev, they live abroad. He stays in Ukraine.
In a comment to Suspilne, Aheiev claimed that the family had earned the property in the capital through years of work, as well as through the sale of real estate in Donetsk.
