The company, which was only founded in April this year, has managed to secure more than 84 million hryvnias in contracts from the Polissya Forest Office of the state-owned enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’ in just four months. However, journalists claim that the firm is also linked to a host of contractors suspected of laundering money from the state-owned enterprise.
These questionable facts were uncovered by journalists from *Telegraf*, who have already sent enquiries to the law enforcement agencies and *Forests of Ukraine*.
A change in leadership — a change in approach to contractors
Until October 2025, the Polissya Forestry Office was headed by Serhiy Chupryna. After serving for just nine months, he left his post amid a scandal and a criminal investigation into the alleged misappropriation of funds from the state-owned enterprise.
He was replaced by Vitaliy Koshmak, who had previously managed the Ostroh, Rokytne and Dubno forestry enterprises. Following his arrival, the Polissya Forestry Office began awarding contracts worth millions of hryvnias to new companies. The office has been particularly generous towards Derevo Sila Ltd.
Without money or equipment
The company ‘Derevo Sila’ was registered in the village of Sosnovyshche, Rivne Oblast, on 16 April 2026. Its owner, director and founder is one and the same person — Dmytro Kasyanchuk from the village of Hubkiv.
The firm cannot officially claim to have significant resources. Its authorised capital is 5,000 UAH, and there is no mention of equipment or staff in its financial statements. However, the company hired 15 workers in a single day and submitted a tender bid the very next day.
A promising newcomer
On its very first attempt, ‘Derevo Sila’ won a tender worth 2.5 million hryvnias. The company had only been in operation for 18 days at that point. Following such a stunning ‘success’, contracts simply poured in for the firm.
In May, the firm won tenders worth 6.6 million hryvnias for the maintenance of crops in the Sosnivskyi and Bereznivskyi forest districts, as well as a tender worth 241,000 hryvnias for tree planting.
Back in June, Derevo Sila Ltd won a tender worth 43.6 million hryvnias. This covers the full scope of work — from felling to logistics.
The following month, the newcomer was also entrusted with transport and timber harvesting contracts worth 5.4 million hryvnias.
In total, over four months of operation, the company won tenders worth 84.2 million UAH, and by the end of August it was bidding for a further two tenders with a combined value of over 25 million UAH. In one case, there was no competition at all; in the other, the sole competitor’s bid was just 1,000 UAH higher, but the contracting authority continued to consider the bids, explaining that this was due to the large number of bids received for the tender.
Джерело: "Телеграф"
Success that is no accident
Journalists have uncovered a link between ‘Derevo Sila’ Ltd and other companies that consistently win forestry tenders.
Indeed, the newcomer shares the same registered address as Harvest TT Ltd and Forest VT Ltd, which were awarded contracts worth 75 and 100.8 million hryvnias respectively at forestry tenders. At the same time, Forest VT Ltd has the same telephone number that previously belonged to another contractor of the Polissya office — Translis VV Ltd.
The company owners also appear to be connected. Galina Tkachuk, founder of Translis VV Ltd, is a neighbour of Andriy Parkhomyuk, founder of Forest VT Ltd, in the village of Bystrychi. Galina’s deputy, Vitalii Tkachuk, who is also a councillor on the Sosnivka Settlement Council, is registered at the same address as Dmytro Kasyanchuk, the founder of Derevo Sila LLC.
However, it is not just a matter of connections, but of criminal activity. The Office of the Prosecutor General and the National Police have uncovered a scheme to siphon money from the state-owned enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’, involving a group of the aforementioned companies and MP Tkachuk himself.
Companies linked to Tkachuk received a total of 77 and 19.5 million hryvnias from the forestry enterprise, after which they transferred the funds to subcontractors who, on paper, were purchasing imported lorries. According to law enforcement officials, these transactions may have been fictitious and used for tax evasion and to convert funds into cash.
Source: "Telegraph"
At the end of 2025, following searches and the seizure of equipment, the companies were renamed, re-registered in Kherson, stripped of their VAT-registered status and transferred to nominal owners. ‘Translis BB’ became ‘Optdong’ and was transferred to Tokhirjon Yunusov, a citizen of Uzbekistan, whilst ‘Listrans BB’ became ‘Gidvert LT’, owned by Gia Chrelashvili, a citizen of Georgia.
According to the investigation, the private enterprise ‘Forest Service Plus’ also used the services of ‘Best Techno Zakhid’ Ltd to cash out 12 million hryvnias. At the same time, it was ‘Forest Service Plus’ that emerged as the sole competitor to ‘Derevo Sila’ in one of the September tenders and lost by a margin of just 1,000 UAH.
The investigation notes that this case confirms the dubious practices observed in forestry procurement. Shell companies with no experience and no staff are siphoning off millions of hryvnias of public funds. And when exposed, the organisers do not even attempt to conceal their activities — they use the same addresses and telephone numbers belonging to associated individuals.
The editorial team at *Telegraf* reported that it had sent official enquiries regarding the questionable procurement to the State Enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’, the Polissya Forestry Office and the law enforcement agencies.
EcoPolitics previously reported that procurement is one of the most contentious areas of the State Enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’s’ operations. State auditors have found that branches of the country’s leading forestry enterprise systematically enter into contracts with shell companies that cannot even be traced to their registered addresses.
In Volyn, however, contracts for forest restoration are awarded to companies owned by MPs, forestry officials and their relatives.
