Company Linked to Yanukovych’s Son Profits from Coal Exports in Occupied Ukrainian Territories

A company allegedly connected to Oleksandr Yanukovych, son of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, has exported nearly half a million tons of coal from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine over the past two years, according to an investigation by the Russian media outlet ‘Important Stories’ on February 4.

The report identifies the company as Energoresurs, which exported coal from Russia in 2023 and 2024. The suppliers of this coal are based in occupied regions of Ukraine and include entities such as Trading House Don Coal, RTK Vostokugol, and the mines Komsolets Donbassa, Zhdanovskaya, and Impex-Don.

Energoresurs is officially owned by Oleksii Ivanov, who has worked for various legal firms linked to Oleksandr Yanukovych since at least 2016, according to the report. The company’s director, Pavlo Zemliakov, has also been associated with Donetsk Financial Settlement Center (DRFC), a group of coal enrichment plants that Forbes Ukraine attributed to Yanukovych’s business empire in 2012.

In 2023, Energoresurs reportedly secured a $7 million loan at a symbolic 1% interest rate from Sl Holdings Limited, a Cyprus-based company. The entity was previously owned by Eduard Slinko, former CEO of Yanukovych’s Mako Holding. Currently, the Cyprus firm is indirectly controlled by Daria Lavrynets, whose name appears as the director of another company, Tursiop, previously owned by an individual linked to the Yanukovych family.

In addition, a 2021 loan to Energoresurs came from Serhii Yermolchuk, then the CEO of Pride M, a company mentioned in a 2021 investigation by Ukrainian journalists “Skhemy” as linked to Yanukovych’s property holdings in Moscow.

The investigation highlights that Energoresurs transports coal from occupied Donbas to Turkey via railway and maritime routes. The main recipient is an offshore company, Energy Union, which purchases the coal at a reduced price, reportedly allowing it to minimize export duties. Energy Union then resells the coal at market prices.

A branch of Energy Union was registered in Rostov-on-Don in July 2022. Its director, Artem Opolinsky, is simultaneously an employee of Energoresurs. In 2024, Nadiya Opolinska, reportedly Opolinsky’s wife, became the successor of the company through a loan agreement.

Until 2022, Energoresurs supplied coal to Bulgaria, Estonia, the Czech Republic, and Romania. However, following EU sanctions, the company redirected its exports primarily to Turkey. Over the period 2021–2023, the company reportedly generated 3.5 billion rubles in revenue, benefiting from transfer pricing mechanisms that reduced taxation and trade costs.

Earlier, a Russian drone strike in the Kyiv region damaged a vintage car museum housing vehicles from the collection of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. According to regional official Mykola Kalashnyk, debris from a downed drone sparked a fire that destroyed nine vehicles and damaged 27 others, including rare Soviet-era Moskvitch, ZAZ Zaporozhets, and Gaz-14 Chaika models.