The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has dismissed the charges against Yuriy Bolokhovets, CEO of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine,” according to a statement by lawyer Volodymyr Volodymyrov on Facebook.
According to a statement by the Advanq Law Firm (ADVANQ), which provided legal representation, the court’s decision is final and cannot be appealed. According to the lawyer, the court found the charges against the head of the state-owned enterprise to be unfounded.
“Even before the case was transferred to NABU, the investigation had done a tremendous amount of work, gathering a large amount of material, but was unable to find evidence of land seizure, receipt and legalization of illegal funds, or abuse of official authority. Four of the five charges were not confirmed at the investigation stage, and in court we managed to prove the groundlessness of the last one,” Volodymyr said.
He emphasized that the reason for the persecution of Bolokhovets was the forest reform, as a result of which “the old system was destroyed, and billions in revenues from the sale of state timber began to be paid into the budget.”
The lawyer recalled that last year Bolokhovets was held in custody for two months with an “unrealistic bail amount” imposed, and his family, colleagues, and defenders were also subjected to pressure and information attacks. At the same time, he expressed his respect for the anti-corruption authorities for their objective analysis of the materials despite external pressure.
The press service of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” emphasized that the pressure on the CEO was due to his position on the introduction of transparent market mechanisms for the sale of timber and the de-shadowing of the forestry industry.
As reported, Yuriy Bolokhovets was notified of the suspicion in July 2025. During the investigation, he was held in custody with the possibility of bail.
State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is one of the largest forest users in Europe and is under the management of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine. The enterprise manages 6.6 million hectares of state forest fund land.
Oleksandr Farkosh has been appointed General Director of JTI Ukraine. He replaces Svitlana Sharomok, who has headed the Ukrainian office since 2022 and is moving to a new role within the company. Svitlana Sharomok will take up the position of General Director of JTI Ireland.
Alexander Farkosh has extensive management experience in Ukraine and international markets. Prior to his appointment in Ukraine, he headed JTI Hungary. His professional expertise is based on more than 24 years of work at JTI and previous experience in the management sector, focusing on country-level business management, strategic planning, and organizational efficiency improvement.
Throughout his career at JTI, Alexander has held leadership positions related to commercial strategy development and implementation, partnership development, team management, and coordination of decisions between key functions—sales and marketing, supply chain, and research and development. The international dimension of his experience is reinforced by his work at JTI headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and management roles in other markets, including Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
Commenting on the appointment, Alexander Farkosh said: “It is a great honor and responsibility for me to lead the JTI Ukraine team during what remains an extremely difficult period for the country. Svitlana Sharomok and the team have gone through the most difficult years since the start of the full-scale war, maintaining business stability, humanity, and responsibility towards employees and communities. I will bring all my experience and knowledge to continue this course, strengthen our effectiveness, and further develop the company in Ukraine, my home country.”
Oleksandr graduated from Lviv Trade and Economic University with a degree in international economic relations and completed additional management programs at international training centers in the UK and Switzerland.
About JTI Ukraine
JTI Ukraine is part of Japan Tobacco International (headquartered in Geneva), the international tobacco business of the Japan Tobacco group of companies (headquartered in Tokyo). Since 1999, the company has been one of the leading manufacturers of tobacco products in Ukraine, employing over 800 people at its central office in Kyiv, regional offices, and factory in Kremenchuk. JTI Ukraine manufactures products for both the domestic market and for export to nine countries around the world. In 2024, the company introduced the innovative Ploom ecosystem to the Ukrainian market in the category of tobacco products for electric heating (TPEH).
Over 26 years of operation, approximately $440 million has been invested in the country’s economy, with an additional $60 million in investments planned for 2024–2026. The company actively implements social initiatives aimed at supporting Ukrainians during the war, developing an inclusive corporate culture, and strengthening local communities. The company is a signatory to the principles of veteran-friendly business. JTI Ukraine is among the top 10 largest taxpayers to the state budget and the top 10 companies according to the Ukrainian Corporate Equality Index.
Comfy Trade LLC, which develops the Comfy network, has updated its management model and introduced the role of company president, which has been filled by Igor Khizhnyak, while Gennady Verbylenko has been appointed as the new CEO.
‘Comfy announces an update to its management model, which took place in early January 2026. The decision is aimed at strengthening strategic and operational management, ensuring management continuity and the further sustainable development of the company as a leader in the Ukrainian market for household appliances and electronics,’ the company said in a press release.
Igor Khizhnyak, who previously held the position of CEO of Comfy, has taken up the new position of president of the company. According to the announcement, as president of the company, he will be responsible for shaping its strategic priorities.
Khizhnyak has also joined the company’s advisory board. He will participate in determining Comfy’s strategic directions, evaluating key management decisions, and ensuring a balance between the company’s long-term goals, customer expectations, and market development.
In addition, Khizhnyak will soon take up the position of Chief Country Representative in Ukraine at Torwell, which indirectly co-owns Comfy. His task in his new position will be to develop investment projects in Ukraine, the press service reported.
The new CEO of Comfy is Gennady Verbylenko, who has held the position of CEO of the company in various years and was a member of its advisory board, as well as being a minority shareholder in Comfy.
“Comfy is a mature, transparent and efficient company with a strong position in the Ukrainian market and a clear understanding of its role and responsibilities. Today, we are moving on to the next stage of development, which requires a clearer division of strategic and operational focuses. The changes introduced strengthen the company’s management model, contribute to the further transformation of the business model and create the basis for long-term growth and a new level of leadership for Comfy,” said Stanislav Ronis, founder and key beneficial owner of Comfy, in a press release.
According to YouControl, Comfy Trade LLC is owned by Comfy Holdings Limited (100%, Cyprus), with Stanislav Ronis and Svitlana Hutsul as the ultimate beneficiaries.
As reported, Comfy increased its revenue by 9.7% in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, to UAH 25.4 billion. At the end of 2024, it received UAH 47 billion 720.9 million in revenue, which is 27.1% higher than in 2023. 2024 was the first year when the company exceeded $1 billion in revenue.
In December, Viktor Ivanchik, CEO of Astarta agricultural holding, bought 134,640 shares, or 0.53856% of the total number of shares, on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) and outside it through Albacon Ventures Limited at an average price of PLN51.93 per share.
According to stock exchange reports, transactions were concluded on the stock exchange on 14 days in December, during which a total of 50,334 thousand shares were purchased at an average price of PLN45.94 per share, and on December 19, an off-exchange transaction was concluded to purchase 84,306 thousand shares at a price of PLN55.5 per share.
In total, in December, the CEO of Astarta paid PLN6.99 million, or about $1.94 million at the current exchange rate, for additional shares, while in November he purchased 100 thousand shares on the stock exchange for PLN4.66 million, or about $1.29 million at the current exchange rate.
It is noted that after these transactions, Ivanchik owns 10 million 913.25 thousand shares of the agricultural holding, or 43.653% of their total number.
Prior to this, on September 15, Ivanchik purchased 244,679 thousand shares outside the stock exchange, or 0.9787% of their total number, also at a price of PLN55.5 per share, which is significantly higher than the quotation on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
As of this Monday at 11:50 a.m., Astarta shares are trading on the stock exchange at PLN45.1, giving the company a market capitalization of PLN1.128 billion, or about $312.7 million.
According to the latest report, at the end of September this year, the Ivanchik family owned a total of 43.21% of shares, compared to 42.23% of shares in the middle of the year, 41.48% at the beginning of this year, and 41.28% at the end of September last year. Fairfax Financial Holdings has also been a major shareholder all this time, with 29.91%, while another 2.1184% of shares are owned by the company itself and were previously repurchased as part of a buyback. As of May this year, minority shareholders also included Kopernik Global Investors with 2.64% and Heptagon Capital with 1.8%.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine and is the largest sugar producer in Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobine (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In January-September 2025, Astarta reduced its net profit by 42.2% to EUR43.70 million, and its consolidated revenue decreased by 22.4% to EUR342.78 million.
On June 12 this year, the shareholders’ meeting approved the payment of dividends for 2024 in the amount of EUR0.5 per share for a total of EUR12.5 million, which is in line with the figures for the previous two years.
Artem Shevchenko, CEO of the monomarket marketplace, has left the company.
He announced this on his Facebook page.
“A journey lasting almost three years is coming to an end. It has been an extraordinary journey — from an idea to a working project that has been able to generate hundreds of millions of hryvnia in turnover every month. From three people at the start to a team of 130+ professionals today. Monomarket has become an integral part of the Ukrainian e-commerce market and has significantly changed its landscape. And this project still has many achievements ahead,“ he wrote.
The top manager thanked the team, founders, and partners and stated that his stage in the project was complete. ”I’m moving on. Another large e-commerce project has been built. Let’s move on to the next one,” Shevchenko wrote.
As reported, monobank launched a marketplace in its mobile app in October 2024.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has approved Igor Syrovatko as the new CEO of NovaPay (TM NovaPay), an international financial service provider belonging to the Nova Group, according to a press release issued by the company on Monday.
“It was a difficult challenge for me, especially in parallel with the process of getting into the role and managing a large company—I had to quickly refresh my knowledge of the regulatory framework governing the work of financial institutions, corporate governance, and all the legislation governing the work of our industry,” Syrovatko said in the release.
He previously worked at Universal Bank and headed the customer service department at OLX in Ukraine and Central Asia. NovaPay announced its decision to appoint him as CEO in September this year.
Prior to Syrovatko, Andriy Kryvoshapko was the CEO of the international financial service NovaPay, having headed the company since 2016.
NovaPay is an international financial service founded in 2001. It is part of the Nova group and provides online and offline financial services at Nova Poshta branches. In 2023, it was the first non-bank financial institution in Ukraine to receive an extended license from the NBU, which allowed it to open accounts and issue cards, and at the end of last year, it was the first non-bank to launch its own financial application.
According to NBU statistics, NovaPay is the leader among all money transfer systems created by non-bank institutions. According to the company, it processes about 2.5 million transactions per day for 750,000 users.
