Curator of the “Great Construction” Yuriy Holyk “latched onto” miltech: drones, state tenders and related companies.

The name of Yuriy Holyk, former adviser to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, is firmly associated with the “Great Construction” project initiated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even before the full-scale invasion. Journalists and anti-corruption agencies investigated collusion in state tenders won by companies close to Holyk’s former boss Valentyn Reznichenko. The case was recently sent to court. Meanwhile, Holyk has somewhat fallen out of journalists’ focus. Unjustly so. It turned out that companies linked to the “great embezzlement” continue to actively profit from state tenders to this day, while Holyk has begun moving into miltech.

In 2024, when the scandal over embezzlement in the “Great Construction” broke, Holyk left Ukraine for Austria as a volunteer for the charitable foundation “Songs Born in the ATO.” He himself claimed he was not fleeing but was on another trip to purchase goods needed by the Armed Forces. He said he had crossed the border many times before and always returned, declaring assistance to the army.

Austria is linked to him in many ways. In particular, businessman Denys Ostrovskyi, founder of SK Stroinvest. This company won a large number of state contracts while Valentyn Reznichenko was in office in Dnipropetrovsk region. Journalists published messages from Yuriy Holyk’s phone in which he was effectively consulting Ostrovskyi on tenders.

Denys Ostrovskyi is also the founder of the Austrian company ODM BAU & Investitions, whose affairs are handled by lawyer Serhiy Bakharev. The latter also works at Deverte Holding GmbH.

This company is listed among the founders of LLC “K.A.N.”, which belongs to the group of businessman Oleksandr Spektor.

Until April 2024, Spektor was a co-owner of “Creative State Senator,” whose shares are held by Yuriy Holyk. The company is part of the group that manages the creative spaces Creative States. One of the large offices is located in Spektor’s business center “Senator.”

In June 2026, the SSU conducted searches at Oleksandr Spektor’s premises. Investigators suspect that the businessman, through controlled companies, helped state traitor Viktor Medvedchuk circumvent sanctions and withdraw funds from Ukraine.

Yuriy Holyk has given several of his recent interviews precisely in the Creative States spaces. For example, an extensive account of how he and a team of engineers established drone production.

On his Facebook page one can see many posts dedicated to modern defence solutions. He also publishes photos of UAVs produced by his team on orders from the military.

From media publications it is known that Holyk is, among other things, engaged in the modernization of the Sting UAV. Officially these drones are manufactured by “Wild Hornets.” The company has roots in the charitable foundation “Community of Wild Hornets,” registered in 2023.

Among the founders is Yuriy Vinnichuk, editor-in-chief of “Business.Censor.” An unnamed person identifiable as Vinnichuk told “Oboronka” how the “Wild Hornets” came about: “A small team of people from different fields came together: an IT specialist, a film director, a builder and two media figures.”

The second media figure at the “Hornets” is obviously another founder of the charity — Vyacheslav Kozyr. At least one joint material prepared by Vinnichuk and Kozyr can be found online.

The current head of the “Community of Wild Hornets” is Ihor Mikushev. In 2023 he gave an interview to “Censor” as a volunteer of the “Freedom to Ukraine” charitable foundation from Kyiv region. A co-founder of this foundation is probably Iryna Polshchan, a former official from Dnipropetrovsk region, Holyk’s home region.

In 2026 another journalist joined the “Hornets” — Alex Rosslin, who writes for KyivPost. He is referred to as the coordinator of the “Wild Hornets” project.

In April 2024 the charitable foundation “Community of Wild Hornets” evolved into the official company LLC “Ukrainian Machines.” Its director is the aforementioned Yuriy Vinnichuk. The firm actively wins state tenders for the supply of Sting UAVs.

For example, in July 2026 “Ukrainian Machines” won a tender to supply Sting R4 UAVs with digital thermal cameras for the Defence Work Directorate of Zaporizhzhya Regional State Administration worth 4.4 million hryvnias. In February the company received the opportunity to earn 2.3 million hryvnias on the supply of 24 drones to a military unit in Lviv region. In the summer of 2026 a tender was won to supply Sting drones to the National Police in Sumy region. For this order “Ukrainian Machines” will receive almost 3 million hryvnias from the budget.

According to official documents, Yuriy Holyk’s business consists of a stake in the Creative States creative spaces, 25% in sports centers linked to former minister Dmytro Dubilet, Smartass, and a quarter of the winemaking company of former tennis player Serhiy Stakhovskyi. The latter recently demobilized from the Armed Forces.

In July 2023 information appeared about tests of the flight complex of the “STING A” UAV, whose development and production Yuriy Holyk launched together with Stakhovskyi.

Informally, Holyk may continue to receive benefits from the work of his good acquaintance Denys Ostrovskyi at SK Stroinvest. In 2026 the company won state tenders worth about 600 million hryvnias. In 2025 it won tenders worth 2 billion hryvnias, and in 2024 — 2.4 billion hryvnias. SK Stroinvest most often wins state contracts in Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhya regions. But in September this year the company entered the capital. Holyk’s associate Ostrovskyi plans to earn 88.5 million hryvnias on the renovation of a park in the Dnipro district.

By coincidence, this year former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov, who oversaw the “Great Construction,” returned to the political Olympus. In January he became an adviser to the president on community development. In particular, the capital is among his advisory circle.

In 2021–2022 the former minister rented 290-square-meter apartments in Kyiv belonging to Yuriy Holyk’s business partner Olena Komlieva.

The woman is a co-founder of the website “Besplatka.ua” together with Holyk. Her LinkedIn profile states that she works as executive director of “Besplatka.” Holyk and Komlieva intersect in LLC “Mass Media,” LLC “Media East,” LLC “Modern Media Technologies” and LLC “77 Online Media.”

Returning to Denys Ostrovskyi, it is worth mentioning another of his companies — “Ukrainian Energy Force.” In 2026 the company won tenders for the supply of electricity to municipal and state enterprises worth 72 million hryvnias, in 2025 — 228 million, and in 2024 — 670 million hryvnias.

On his social networks Yuriy Holyk frequently boasts about the former successes of “Reznichenko’s team” in Dnipro and holds them up as an example to other regions, forgetting to mention that his ex-boss is under investigation for alleged embezzlement and the promotion of his own companies to realize those successes. He also pays attention to defence and drone production. Holyk travels extensively, rides a bicycle in a tracksuit with “UAE” written on it, and is thus probably trying to dampen the scandal over the messages found on his phone by law enforcement. Yet it is precisely these messages that answer the question: “Where does the money come from?”