The Shadow Cartel of Relocated Luhansk: Budget Siphoning, Judicial Shelter, and Draft-Evasion Schemes Under Oleksiy Kharchenko

While public scrutiny remains trained on the frontline, an insular financial and bureaucratic ecosystem has developed within the relocated bodies of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration (OVA) and the Sievierodonetsk City Military Administration (MVA). Despite periodic surface rearrangements, the operational framework has persisted: extracting the financial balances of occupied communities, pumping tens of millions of hryvnias into the capital of dormant municipal enterprises, safeguarding discredited officials, and dispensing state honors alongside military draft exemptions to insiders.

Procedural filings from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), court orders, prosecutorial releases, and state registries outline the architecture of this institutional complicity. The central figures are Dnipro-installed appointee Alona Prysiajna, state-decorated finance chief Maryna Bahrintseva, long-serving procurement administrator Lyudmyla Didenko, and Luhansk OVA Head Oleksiy Kharchenko, whose administrative orders provided legal cover for the entire operation.

1. Alona Prysiajna: A Dnipro Building Inspector Installed Over a Shell Enterprise

In February 2025, the municipal enterprise "Sievierodonetsk Agency for Investment and Development" (EDRPOU 34306262) was placed under the leadership of Alona Vadymivna Prysiajna.

Prysiajna lacked any prior professional or administrative background in Luhansk Oblast. Her career had been built in Dnipro:

• 2021–2024: Chief State Inspector of Construction Oversight at the State Inspection of Architecture and Urban Planning (DIAM) in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast;
• 2024 – February 2025: Deputy Head of the Department for Regional Development and Construction – Head of Building Infrastructure at the Department of Housing and Construction of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration.

On February 26, 2025, Prysiajna resigned from her position in Dnipropetrovsk and simultaneously submitted her official candidacy declaration to head the Sievierodonetsk municipal enterprise. Her appointment to an occupied municipality's agency coincided with the installation of Dnipro-connected personnel under Oleksiy Kharchenko's administration.

The enterprise—registered in occupied Sievierodonetsk (48 Mykoly Amosova Street)—retained only a nominal presence there, relocating its physical operations to Dnipro and Kyiv, where Prysiajna was based.

1. The Capital Infusion and Draft-Evasion Conduit: The SBU Intervention in Dnipro

The relocated municipal enterprise adjusted its operational classification to NACE 81.10 ("General cleaning and maintenance of buildings"). Rather than attracting capital, it operated as a financial repository: the Sievierodonetsk MVA allocated over 81 million UAH from municipal reserves directly into the enterprise's equity (raising its authorized capital in state registries above 188.9 million UAH). When state audit bodies began scrutinizing these outflows, the entity retained private legal counsel through public tenders at municipal expense to handle "defense during searches and investigative actions."

Its secondary output was the provision of unlawful draft deferments.

Under criminal proceeding № 22026051000000062, opened on February 27, 2026, SBU investigators established that Prysiajna conspired with the Head of the Financial Department of the Sievierodonetsk MVA, Maryna Bahrintseva:

• Fictitious Employment: Under Internal Order № 26-K dated December 2, 2025, Bahrintseva’s brother was placed on payroll as a "general building maintenance and repair worker".
• Fabricated Duties: Per his job specification, the worker was tasked with masonry, utility repair, and remediation of combat damages. Technical surveillance demonstrated that he resided continuously in Kyiv and never reported to operational sites.
• Draft Evasion: The individual was placed on the enterprise's reserved roster, obtaining an exemption subsequently extended to February 4, 2027. To justify the status, the administration assigned him simulated duties involving the "construction of defense fortifications in Donetsk Oblast".

Arrest and Remand: On September 10, 2026, the SBU issued Alona Prysiajna a formal notice of suspicion under Part 1, Article 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during martial law).

On September 11, 2026, the investigating judge of the Soborny District Court of Dnipro (Case № 201/13893/26, Ruling № 139993572) remanded Alona Prysiajna into custody at Dnipro Pre-trial Detention Center № 4, with bail set at 199,680 UAH.

III. The Order of Princess Olga Amidst Felonies: The Case of Maryna Bahrintseva

The role of Maryna Bahrintseva underscores the institutional shielding at work. On September 30, 2026, the Luhansk Regional Prosecutor's Office and the SBU charged her as a co-conspirator under Part 1, Article 114-1 of the Criminal Code.

The documented timeline shows direct overlap:

• December 2025: Bahrintseva and Prysiajna arrange the sham employment of Bahrintseva's brother to circumvent mobilization.
• January 22, 2026: The President of Ukraine signs Decree № 67/2026 conferring upon Maryna Bahrintseva the Order of Princess Olga, 3rd Class, citing "significant personal contributions to state construction and national defense capabilities."
• February 2026: Leveraging this standing, the enterprise secures re-certification as an entity of critical importance, extending her relative's military exemption for an additional year.

The award nomination package was initiated by the Sievierodonetsk City and District Military Administrations and countersigned directly by Luhansk OVA Head Oleksiy Kharchenko. The state honor for defense contributions was conferred while the official was actively facilitating unlawful draft deferments.

1. The Executive Role of Oleksiy Kharchenko: Regulatory Validation

The operational reliance of Prysiajna’s agency on executive directives from Oleksiy Kharchenko is detailed in Court Order № 201/13893/26:

1. Order № 59 of February 21, 2025: Oleksiy Kharchenko designated the "Sievierodonetsk Agency for Investment and Development" as an enterprise critical to the functioning of the national economy during martial law.
2. Order № 27 of February 4, 2026: Oleksiy Kharchenko reaffirmed this critical status, establishing the administrative basis that permitted the extension of draft deferments for non-performing personnel through 2027.

Without these explicit administrative certifications from the OVA, the mobilization exemptions could not have been processed through state military registries.

1. Asymmetric Accountability: Kusheleva's Removal vs. Didenko's Immunity

Administrative discipline within the OVA reflects stark divergence.

When investigative reporting exposed bid rigging within a 3.21 million UAH communication procurement (Tender UA-2026-03-13-012479-a involving NGO Trybun, SD.UA, and a pre-arranged technical bidder) alongside a non-repayable 1.16 million UAH housing subsidy granted to Albina Kusheleva’s son, she was swiftly separated from oversight bodies: by Order № 474 of September 24, 2026, she was removed from the "Transparency and Accountability" council.

Conversely, when pressed regarding Lyudmyla Didenko, Kharchenko’s position shifted to institutional defense :

Didenko maintains an extensive procurement record:

• As head of regional construction under Serhiy Haidai, she signed 924 public contracts totaling 2.66 billion UAH.
• She was centrally referenced in National Police Main Investigation Department probe № 42020000000000340 (fictitious intermediary chains involving Shakhtoburinnya and Proksitekhnotorh with court-confirmed financial losses to the state) and probe № 42019130000000084 (30 million UAH school insulation overpricing via Stroy-Klub Plus, Case № 428/12763/19).
• Rather than facing suspension, she was elevated via Kharchenko's Order № 110 of March 27, 2026, which merged the Department of Construction into the Department of Reintegration, placing the unified apparatus under her control.
• Didenko was assigned authority over the 401.7 million UAH withdrawn from the municipal balance of Lysychansk. Under official response № 1410/02.01-16 of September 22, 2026, her department authorized non-repayable 50% mortgage write-offs for 127 non-priority applicants (civil servants, tax officials, and regional media heads).

Questioned by journalists on retaining an official implicated in documented embezzlement inquiries, Oleksiy Kharchenko stated:

"This is a sensitive issue. We must balance justice, the spirit of the law, and the letter of the law. I cannot abuse my office and dismiss people left and right on mere whim... only a court verdict establishes guilt. Suspect status is easily assigned due to conflict situations with law enforcement. Proving guilt is far more demanding..."

Kusheleva was dropped without a verdict to manage media exposure, whereas Didenko is shielded behind procedural presumption despite substantiated judicial findings. Her retention ensures administrative control over the regional disbursement pipeline.

Structural Summary of Administration Network

The criminal proceedings involving Alona Prysiajna and Maryna Bahrintseva are not an isolated occurrence of low-level malfeasance. They reflect the operational reality of the relocated regional administration: insulated from democratic oversight, executive structures have used municipal reserves to fund non-operating entities, trade military exemptions, and shield key financial handlers behind selective procedural arguments.

This evidence dossier is being submitted to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) to initiate formal proceedings under Articles 191, 364, and 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine across the entire executive hierarchy.