Yuriy Golik unsuccessfully attempts to erase evidence online of billion-dollar frauds involving the Reznichenko group linked to the "Great Construction" and "Budinvest Engineering" projects

16 июля 2026 г., 23:09

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Yuriy Golik unsuccessfully attempts to erase evidence online of billion-dollar frauds involving the Reznichenko group linked to the "Great Construction" and "Budinvest Engineering" projects

Yuriy Golik is aggressively scrubbing the internet of any trace of his role in the "Reznichenko team" and his fingerprints on multi‑billion‑dollar construction deals.

Materials about his connections to "Big Construction," veterans’ projects, foundations, and investigations into possible budget fraud are disappearing from the public domain.

We, in turn, are publishing an investigation that highlights Yuriy Golik’s connections to Valentin Reznichenko’s circle, his involvement in major government projects, and his control over billions in budget funds.

The government will spend billions on unified veterans’ spaces. What does this have to do with Yuriy Golik and Valentin Reznichenko? NGL.media reports .

"Some people from the ministry called and made an offer," explains the director of the "Songs Born in the ATO" charitable foundation, explaining how the organization, which specializes in festivals, suddenly developed a design for a typical veterans’ space. This design formed the basis of a multi-billion-dollar government program that envisions the construction of more than 160 such spaces across the country.

This can likely be explained by the extensive connections of the "Songs Born in the ATO" charitable foundation, which lead to the informal curator of "Great Construction," Yuriy Golik, and people close to the former head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Valentyn Reznichenko.

Symbiosis of community and state

The first veterans’ spaces appeared in Ukraine long before any government programs. As early as 2014, local communities opened them at their own expense in suitable premises.

It wasn’t until August 2024 that the state decided to take matters into its own hands: the president signed a decree on supporting veterans, specifically addressing the need to regulate the issue of veterans’ spaces. The following year, the Ministry of Veterans launched a program to build new spaces under a unified project .

We are talking about single-story buildings with a total area of approximately 1,500 m2, consisting of two blocks – a gym and a separate room with rooms for consultations, psychological support, conference rooms and a small cafe. 

The state covers up to 60% of the construction costs, with the local community contributing the remainder. The funds will only be used for new construction and only for the ministry’s standard project; they cannot be used for renovations or improvements to existing veterans’ spaces.

Even before the official launch of the government program, First Deputy Minister for Veterans Affairs Viktor Baydachniy visited the regions and negotiated with local communities. By July 2025, the government had allocated UAH 446 million, and construction of veterans’ spaces had begun in the first seven communities: Kryvyi Rih, Lutsk, Zhytomyr, Bucha, Uzhhorod, Kremenchuk, and Ivano-Frankivsk.

They were scheduled to be operational in record time—by December 1st of last year. Clearly, none of the seven facilities met this deadline. Ultimately, they still haven’t opened.

Meanwhile, in February 2026, the government approved the terms of participation in the next stage of the veterans’ space construction program – this time for UAH 1.1 billion for 15 communities.

Implementation of the program

The documents submitted by communities to participate in the government program indicate that the cities prepared well before its official announcement. For example, a construction site in Lutsk was allocated on May 28, 2025—three weeks before the government adopted the relevant resolution.

The assessment of the adapted projects was carried out by two organizations, UK Expertiza LLC and Nova-Expert LLC, spending less than a month on each project. 

There was also a rush at tenders. In all seven communities, only one contractor bid and received the orders, and the tender conditions effectively made it impossible for others to participate. For example, in Kryvyi Rih, they required proof of annual income equal to the expected contract value (over UAH 130 million) and a personal inspection of the site with the client’s signature. In Uzhhorod, in addition to the inspection, they added optional quality certificates.

Moreover, the companies that ultimately won the contracts were either newly established or had disproportionately little experience. A contractor in Kremenchuk had 2 million hryvnias of experience but was awarded a contract worth 132 million hryvnias. Documents submitted for the tender indicate that all 42 company employees were hired several months before the tender, with salaries of 8,000-9,000 hryvnias, compared to the average construction worker’s salary of 40,000 hryvnias. The consortium building the veterans’ space in Bucha was registered several months before the tender and has only six employees. 

Construction of seven veterans’ spaces began in the summer and fall of 2025. It was then discovered that the estimates significantly overstated the cost of materials. In Kremenchuk, the cost was approximately 2 million hryvnias , in Kryvyi Rih, approximately 2.6 million hryvnias , and in Uzhhorod, over 7 million . Some items in the estimates were deliberately vague, lacking specific specifications, making comparisons with market prices impossible.

The initial program plan envisioned a timeframe of less than five months from the distribution of funds to the completion of the completed buildings. However, some communities went even further. For example, in Lutsk, the schedule submitted with the application called for construction to begin on August 1 and be completed by November 30—a mere four months for the entire project. However, the contractor’s contract was only signed on October 15, with the deadline set for completion on November 20. However, Lutsk’s example pales in comparison to Kremenchuk, where the construction contract was signed on November 10 with a deadline of November 20—ten days to complete a complex building with an area of almost 1,500 square meters.

This rush can be explained by the fact that the communities wanted to utilize the budget funds by the end of the year and then continue construction through additional agreements. Vasiliy Lishchuk, head of the Lutsk City Council’s Capital Construction Department, publicly confirmed that the unrealistic deadlines were due to pressure from Kyiv: "They said the deadlines were very, very tight. But we, on the ground, see the situation differently. The country’s leadership, in general, may have a slightly different view."

The deadlines for all seven projects have been pushed back several times. Vasiliy Lishchuk, speaking to journalists, explains that the Lutsk project is currently delayed due to finishing approvals, as even the colors must meet a uniform standard. "There are delays from the ministry itself, which coordinates these processes. We received the local version a few days ago, so we’re now starting interior finishing," he explained.

Lishchuk estimates that the new veterans’ center in Lutsk won’t open until June. However, he still doesn’t know who will maintain it. "We’re responsible for construction. The ministry is currently deciding who will operate it," he said. 

Songs Born in the ATO

According to the government program, 161 veterans’ spaces are planned to be built across the country, all in a uniform architectural style. The Ministry of Veterans Affairs approved this project by order . 

But it was not the ministry that ordered it.

The design documentation appeared in the construction activity register on April 24 of last year—55 days before the government decree. The "Songs Born in the ATO" charitable foundation commissioned the development of the documentation from Yuriy Erdeli, a private entrepreneur from Transcarpathia.

The project was then transferred to the ministry, which received all property rights. Participation in the state program was only possible if construction was carried out according to this specific project, without any alternatives—communities confirmed this in their applications . Permits for the project’s use were signed by First Deputy Minister Viktor Baydachniy.

The Dnipro-based charity foundation "Songs Born in the ATO" previously held music festivals, but in 2022 it shifted its focus to supporting military personnel, displaced persons, and hospitals. The organization has no connection to design or construction—at least officially.

The foundation’s founder, Vladimir Yurchenko, was unable to explain why the charity commissioned construction documentation for a government program.

"Some people from the ministry called and made an offer," Yuriy Shulika, the foundation’s director, also offered little clarification in a conversation with journalists. He confirmed that his organization commissioned the project and submitted it to the ministry. But who exactly called, why they approached Songs Born in the ATO, who within the foundation led the negotiations, and how they selected designer Yuriy Erdeli—Yuriy Shulika’s answer to each of these questions was the same: he doesn’t know, he can’t say.

Architect Yuriy Erdeli confirmed that he was approached by a charitable foundation, although he couldn’t recall its name. Erdeli says he developed the project for a nominal fee of one hryvnia, "because it’s for veterans." He didn’t contact the ministry, but handed over his work to the foundation, which then passed it on to the ministry, but without his involvement.

"I was asked to develop the project in a very short timeframe. We worked day and night," Erdeli explains. Construction also needed to be done quickly, so he included a prefabricated frame structure in the design. He considers six months a realistic timeframe for construction of such a structure. 

Some people

Yuriy Shulika couldn’t explain why the foundation he headed ended up at the center of the state construction program. But the organization’s connections provide a clue.

The "Songs Born in the ATO" charitable foundation was founded by Volodymyr Yurchenko, former deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Valentyn Reznichenko. Reznichenko led the region twice: from 2016 to 2019 and from 2020 to 2023. It was during his second term that the "Great Construction" program, a large-scale presidential project to repair roads, schools, and hospitals, was launched.

The wife of the foundation’s current director also has ties to the regional administration. In 2017, Natalia Shulika coordinated the eponymous "Songs Born in the ATO" festival on behalf of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration. At the time, she worked at the ATO Veterans Assistance Center under the Reznichenko administration. She also headed the department for ATO Veterans’ Issues under the same administration.

In the foreground is the head of the regional state administration, Valentyn Reznichenko. On the far left are Volodymyr Yurchenko and Viktor Baydachniy. The former is now the founder of the charitable foundation that commissioned the veterans’ space project. The latter is the Deputy Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. It was Viktor Baydachniy who traveled to negotiate with the communities even before the program’s official launch. The minister tasked him with overseeing the project’s approval and the distribution of state budget subsidies among the first communities. 

Viktor Baydachniy is a native of Dnipro. Before his appointment as Deputy Minister of Veterans’ Affairs in 2022, he worked in the Department of Veterans Policy of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration under Valentyn Reznichenko and Natalia Shulika. A document detailing the secondment of employees of this department in 2019-2020 lists Baidachny as the leading inspector of the patriotic education department. Both Baidachny and Shulika are founders of the public organization "Dnipropetrovsk Regional Union of ATO Warriors."

Another person present in the same group photo of "Team Reznichenko" is Yuriy Golik. He was Reznichenko’s advisor when he headed the regional state administration. They are longtime associates, having worked together since the 2000s. Reznichenko personally invited Golik to each of his new positions. "I essentially worked as his deputy for the last few years," Golik said in a 2021 interview. 

Yuriy Golik is often referred to as   the "ideologist" and "curator" of the "Great Construction" program. He held no official position, but journalists repeatedly recorded him at key meetings in the Presidential Office on infrastructure issues.

But this isn’t the only connection Golik has with the people involved in the veterans’ spaces program. He publicly referred to the "Songs Born in the ATO" festival as "ours." This is the festival coordinated by Natalia Shulika on behalf of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration. 

After the searches in 2023, according to media reports , Yuriy Golik left Ukraine through the " Shlyakh " system as a volunteer driver for the "Songs Born in the ATO" charity foundation.

The searches were related to a NABU investigation launched following the publications of " UP " and " Schemes ." At the time, journalists discovered that the company "Budinvest Engineering," owned by a close friend of Valentyn Reznichenko, had received over 1.5 billion hryvnias from the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration—an abnormally high sum compared to other regions.

In 2024, the NABU charged Valentyn Reznichenko and four others with embezzling UAH 286 million. In December 2025 , the investigation was completed , the materials were submitted to court, and the amount of losses proven by the investigation increased to UAH 392 million.  

Yuriy Golik is a defendant in the same NABU case. In May 2024, it was discovered that investigative data had been leaked to Golik himself. SAP then searched the NABU employee’s home on suspicion of disclosing investigative materials. Golik himself was also searched twice.

Yuriy Golik’s name appears not only in the veterans’ spaces program. The National Military Memorial Cemetery is another major project of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. Bihus.Info journalists found that only one bidder participated in the UAH 1.75 billion tender for the first stage of construction—a concern backed by Yuriy Golik, created the day after the auction was announced. The memorial’s chief architect, Sergey Derbin, collaborated with Golik during the "Great Construction" period. Viktor Baydachniy  also officially reports on the construction of the memorial cemetery on behalf of the ministry.

Viktor Baydachniy declined to comment for this article.

Yuriy Golik confirmed to journalists his connection with the "Songs Born in the ATO" foundation. He said he has been involved in organizing the eponymous festival since 2016, and since the full-scale conflict, he has traveled abroad on behalf of the foundation several times, delivering volunteer aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Golik claims he currently lives in Kyiv. He knows Viktor Baydachniy, but hasn’t heard anything about him "for seven or eight years."

Yuri Golik denied any involvement in the veterans’ space construction program. "If he had, such spaces would have been built across the country by now, five years into a full-scale conflict, and would have been exemplary, not just in the design and discussion stages. Moreover, they would have been built with non-budgetary funds," he stated. He dismissed the appearance of his name alongside the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs’ second major construction project as "someone’s fantasy and speculation."