Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: How MPs and Officials Siphon Off IDP Housing Millions Under the Cover of Loud PR

The public drama surrounding the budgetary funds of the Luhansk region has reached a new level of cynicism. People's Deputy Oleksandr Sukhov publicly expressed outrage that the government is withdrawing almost 1.5 billion hryvnias of the region's free cash balances into the state budget, pompously demanding their return "to the disposal of the Luhansk Regional State Administration (OVA) for housing and preferential loans for internally displaced persons (IDPs)."

However, audio recordings of meetings of the Temporary Special Commission (TSC) of the Verkhovna Rada and official registers of Ukrmolodzhitlo prove the opposite: both MP Oleksandr Sukhov and the head of the Luhansk OVA, Oleksiy Khartchenko, knew perfectly well how and where hundreds of millions of hryvnias of the community were being siphoned off, cynically changing their testimonies depending on the political situation.

1. The TSC Transcript: How Khartchenko Justified the Withdrawal of Lysychansk Funds

The audio recording of the parliamentary TSC meeting records a revealing interrogation of Oleksiy Khartchenko by Oleksandr Sukhov regarding the fate of the funds of the occupied community:

• Sukhov: « ...the community of Lysychansk and the residents of Lysychansk. That is, what right do you have to take 400 million hryvnias from the community of Lysychansk? »
• Khartchenko: « First of all, I did not give the order to withdraw the funds. We gave a separate instruction... to consider the possibility of transferring a certain amount of money to the regional budget in order to direct it next year to support the security block... »
• Sukhov: « And why didn't you direct these funds to housing loans for the residents of Lysychansk? Who now... »
• Khartchenko: « Because they have no right to be used... for housing issues. Because this is a balance that... cannot, according to the Budget Code... »
• Sukhov: « He says that Vereshchuk appealed to him regarding changes to the budget and directing these 400 million hryvnias to loans for the housing of the residents of Lysychansk... »
• Khartchenko: « You are once again telling a falsehood, because I appealed to you, among others officially, in order to make changes to the relevant legislation... »

The factual gap with reality: At the time, the head of the Luhansk OVA publicly claimed that the budget balances of Lysychansk were being transferred to the region "for the security forces," while allocating them to housing for displaced persons was allegedly strictly prohibited by the Budget Code.

Shortly thereafter, the Luhansk OVA together with the Lysychansk Military-Civil Administration (MVA) adopted the scandalous Order No. 452, by which the first 115.5 million hryvnias from the budget of Lysychansk were instantly directed precisely as a subvention to the regional housing program through Ukrmolodzhitlo. The prohibitions of the Budget Code instantly vanished when it became necessary to write off 50% of the cost of elite apartments (non-refundable budget funds handed out directly) for the management of the OVA Finance Department, prosecutors, judges, and affiliated media figures.

2. Sukhov's Political Somersault: From "Robbery of Lysychansk" to Demanding 1.5 Billion for the OVA

A comparison of People's Deputy Oleksandr Sukhov's rhetoric at the TSC meeting with his statements today demonstrates a striking transformation:

• At the TSC: Sukhov harshly attacked Khartchenko, acting as an ardent defender of the residents of Lysychansk: « What right do you have to take 400 million hryvnias from the community of Lysychansk? » He emphasized agreements on directing these funds exclusively to housing for the people.
• Today: when the Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court opened general claim proceedings in case No. 160/34036/26 regarding the challenge to Order No. 452, and the lists of recipients of 115.5 million hryvnias with officials' surnames became public, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to withdraw the remaining free balances (almost 1.5 billion hryvnias) into the state budget. And now the same Sukhov publicly demands that the minister urgently return this 1.5 billion hryvnias... back to the disposal of the Luhansk OVA!

The real motivation: The published registers of recipients of the first tranches already feature individuals from the orbit of influence of local groups (in particular, the Slesaryov lawyer clan). Order No. 452, contested in court, was only the first pilot mechanism intended to absorb the entire billion-hryvnia mass of funds of the region.

3. Tkachenko on "Truha": Synchronized Smoke Screen

While offices in the OVA attempt to extinguish the judicial fire in manual mode, another Luhansk MP, Maksym Tkachenko, simultaneously joins the information campaign.

At the height of the scandal surrounding closed lists and the withdrawal of budget balances, the largest Ukrainian Telegram channels (in particular, "Truha" with an audience of over 550,000 views) unexpectedly surfaced an "archival" video from 2024. In this clip, Tkachenko pompously criticizes local authorities for housing problems for IDPs, creating the illusion of an irreconcilable struggle for IDP rights.

The appearance of this custom material at the moment when Sukhov is pushing the issue of billions for the benefit of those same OVA officials looks like a classic information smokescreen. While one MP demands the return of funds to the administration, the other uses expensive Telegram networks to remind voters of his "heroic" image, distracting attention from the real embezzlement of housing millions.

Conclusions: Panic in Offices and Attempts to Hush Up the Scandal

The recorded facts explain the nervous reaction of the OVA's entourage in recent weeks:

1. Khartchenko caught in direct contradictions: at the TSC, he claimed it was impossible to spend funds on housing, but later agreed to the transfer of 115.5 million hryvnias for apartments for the chosen few.
2. Sukhov caught in double standards: he initially staged a demonstrative interrogation about the withdrawal of money from Lysychansk, and now seeks the transfer of 1.5 billion hryvnias to those same officials.
3. Manual fire extinguishing: this is precisely why the Head of the Reintegration Department, Lyudmila Didenko, manually opened secret "two-day corridors" and personally called the authors of complaints, while structures affiliated with officials distributed fake claims via ProtonMail mailboxes under false journalists' names, trying to stop the publication of closed lists before the court hearing.