UA.News continues to report on people in the inner circle of Andriy Yermak, the former head of the Office of the President—or, as the Ukrainian media have called them, members of the “shadow government” on Bankova Street. Previously, we examined the cases of such close associates and advisers to Yermak as Oleksandr Bevz, Daria Zarivna, and Andriy Hota.
In their roles, they were quite visible, communicating in one way or another on behalf of the state or the Office of the President. In contrast, almost nothing is known about many other freelance advisors, and it is equally unclear what specific advice they provided to the president’s inner circle. One such former non-staff advisor is Elina Elianova, who worked at Bankova Street from May 2023 to December 2025.
Just like other “managers,” Elianova had a very specific area of responsibility and projects that, according to journalistic investigations, were part of a vast corruption empire. At her level, Elianova was involved in what might be called micromanagement and is notable for the fact that structures linked to Timur Mindich were likely registered under her name. Read more in this UA.News article.
Media Professional and Event
Manager
Investigative journalists began wondering as early as December 2023 what qualifications an event manager had that would make her an advisor to the head of the Presidential Office. When asked about her career success at the time, she replied, “I’ve known them all for a long time,” referring to the president’s inner circle.
Before joining the Office of the President, Elianova was an event manager and media specialist, working at the advertising and creative agency “Goodmedia.” The company was owned by the family of Kirill Timoshenko, the former deputy head of the Office of the President.
Photos dated March 2015 attest
to her earlier activities, when then-President Petro Poroshenko introduced the new head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Valentin Reznichenko. The event concluded with an informal meeting with Ihor Kolomoyskyi. It was organized by Kirill Timoshenko, and Elianova likely assisted in organizing the event.
In 2014–2015, the agency was involved in the single-member district campaigns of politicians such as Boris Filatov, Andriy Denisenko, and Vitaliy Kupriy. Tymoshenko also worked on a volunteer basis as an assistant to Denisenko, who was a People’s Deputy of the 8th convocation. In addition, the agency provided media coverage for Gennadiy Korban, the head of the “UKROP” party, during the elections in Chernihiv. Kirill Tymoshenko himself officially ran for the Kyiv City Council in 2015 as a candidate for the “UKROP” party, and his father, Vladlen Tymoshenko, was elected to the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council in 2015 as a deputy representing the “UKROP” political party.
Unofficial sources have also revealed that Elianova collaborated with “Goodmedia” in 2017 during preparations for the “Eurovision 2017” song contest, when the agency won a tender to provide services for creating postcards for the participating countries in “Eurovision.” Elianova also appears in a photo from Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s first press marathon in 2019. Journalists speculate that she was part of the organizing team.
In addition, the “Goodmedia” agency announced itself as the organizer of the “Ukraine 30” forums in 2021. From 2020 to 2021, Elianova frequently organized internal conventions for the “Servant of the People” political party. In 2022, she was part of the organizing team for a major holiday concert. She was also part of the organizing team for the International Forum on Solidarity, which took place in Kyiv in November 2025.
When
explaining what her duties at the Office of the President entail, Elina Elianova told Bihus.Info that she provides advice on organizing and conducting large-scale events.
“I assist the Office when advice on protocol is needed. In other words, I don’t work in the office every day. If it’s something technologically complex—like the Independence Day celebrations before the war— ‘You could arrange the seating this way or that way… or you could set up the chairs like this, or you could order this kind of sound system… They don’t have that kind of experience,’” Elianova said about her work.
As her professional connections show, the experienced event organizer was close not only to Kyrylo Tymoshenko’s affairs at the Office of the President but also to those of other influential figures on Bankova Street.
“EVENTUS MANAGEMENT,” Mindich, and Others
Judging by the assets registered in her name, Elina Elianova has a solid background in big business. Elianova was a co-founder and beneficiary of EVENTUS MANAGEMENT LLC, which belongs to Ihor Kolomoyskyi’s Privat Group.
Elianova, as a co-founder, explained the company’s history to journalists, noting that “there was once a plan for an internet project during the COVID-19 pandemic,” but, she said, they did not manage to launch it before the end of the quarantine.
In May 2020, Elianova officially stepped down as a beneficial owner, but, according to informed sources, she remains de facto involved in this business. At the very least, Elianova maintains ties with individuals who support the LLC’s operations. It is worth outlining the circle of people who have been associated with this company at various times.
From February 2014 to October 2016, Timur Mindich served as the director of EVENTUS MANAGEMENT LLC, and was subsequently replaced by Igor Shcheglov. Later, in November 2023, Shcheglov was replaced as director by a longtime acquaintance of Elina Elianova—Anna Dirina, who continues to head the company to this day.
Anna Dirina is notable for the fact that her brother, while serving as the head of a number of nearly unprofitable companies, won government tenders worth millions.
NAVITECHSERVICE LLC,
headed by Dirina’s brother, won several tenders, one of which, worth 716 million hryvnias, was for the reconstruction of the “Irpinski Lypky” residential complex in Irpin. The work was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025, but it remains unfinished to this day.
In 2023, the company won another tender for the construction of a residential building in the Dnipropetrovsk region (the village of Mezhova), with the cost of the work exceeding 78 million hryvnias. Until 2020, the founder of this LLC was Oleg Gurevich, an advisor to the former head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Mykhailo Dobkin.
Vladislav Dyryn is also a beneficiary and director of Concept House LLC, which was registered in May 2017. According to its financial statements, the company is operating at a loss, has no assets, and employs a minimal number of workers, but this did not prevent it from purchasing the “Scientific Selection and Genetic Center for Fish Farming” at auction in January 2026 for over 100 million hryvnias.
An interesting fact about this company is that the editorial office of the newspaper “Besplatka”—one of whose beneficial owners was Yuriy Golik—was previously registered at its registered address. He is considered one of the main ideologists and coordinators of the president’s “Great Construction” program. Golik is also linked to a criminal investigation being conducted by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) regarding road repairs in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where the amount of overpricing for materials reaches 300 million hryvnias. Another individual linked to the criminal case is the former governor of Dnipro, Valentin Reznichenko.
Marina Tkachenko, Vladislav Dirin’s business partner and co-founder of NAVITECHSERVICE LLC, deserves special attention; Elianova is well acquainted with her. Both worked together in the events industry. They were responsible for organizing and coordinating Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s press marathon in 2019. They facilitated the “Ukraine 30” nationwide forums in 2021, where “Goodmedia” served as the main organizer. Tkachenko worked directly on the team as an event producer, while Elianova was responsible for the organizational and protocol aspects of the event.
In this story, it is worth mentioning Marina Tkachenko’s family ties. Her sister is Polina Plis—the wife of the son of former Kyiv City State Administration Deputy Head Hennadiy Plis.
At the same time, Marina’s mother, Inna Grigorievna Voblova, — is the head of Nedashkivske-Zemlia LLC, whose founder and beneficiary is Yuriy Kostiantynovych Bulgakov, the father-in-law of Denys Komarnytskyi, who is considered the “overseer of Kyiv.” Komarnytskyi himself has been wanted since February 2025 and has likely moved to Vienna. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) is conducting a pre-trial investigation into a criminal case involving large-scale land corruption in Kyiv.
In addition to “EVENTUS MANAGEMENT,” the businesswoman was also associated with the following companies: “TANDEN GROUP” (founder and director) and the joint-stock company “Riverside,” which deals with trusts, funds, and other financial institutions. The company was established in 2021 with a registered capital of 130 million UAH.
The intriguing part is that the company’s ultimate beneficiary is Oksana Palytsia, who exercises direct and decisive influence and holds a 95% stake in the authorized capital. She currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland. Oksana Palytsia is the ex-wife of Ihor Palytsia, a member of the Verkhovna Rada and, in the past, a member of the “UKROP” political party and the “For the Future” political group. Ihor Palytsia currently serves as secretary of the Committee on Finance, Tax, and Customs Policy.
Business Partner Igor Khmelov
Another business partner of Elina Elianova and co-founder of “EVENTUS MANAGEMENT” is Igor Khmelov. He is also considered a business partner of Igor Palytsia. About forty different companies are registered under Khmelov as founder and beneficial owner. According to media reports, most of them are part of the Privat Group, while some were transferred from Elianova to Khmelov. Elianova herself described these ties as “situational” and denied any collaboration with members of the Privat Group.
Not only companies but also numerous properties are registered in Igor Khmelov’s name. The most interesting property is a 248-square-meter apartment and a parking space in the scandal-ridden building across from the Verkhovna Rada—at 9A Mykhailo Hrushevsky Street.
Timur Mindich’s apartments are located on the 15th and 18th floors of that building; they were bugged, and in November 2025, NABU detectives conducted searches there.
Ihor Khmelov is also the “nominal owner” of the Kameron boutique chain, founded by Timur Mindich’s wife. This was reported by People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
But what’s most interesting is that this network of “business connections” has successfully established itself in the defense sector. Igor Khmelov worked as a top manager at Fire Point. Although he himself remained out of the public eye for a long time, his partners and trusted associates include Timur Mindich, Igor Fursenko, and Denis Shtilerman. The latter said in November 2025 that Khmelov decided to resign from Fire Point so as not to compromise the company “when all these rumors about Mindich started.”
“Let’s talk about Igor Khmelov. We started working with him in 2023; he was partially employed by us. Then he became very interested in our business—in what we do… It’s not just a business, but what we’re actually doing. Because any man—if he’s not on the front lines, if he has any conscience at all—must do something to ensure victory. And so he quit his job. “He was a top manager at a very large project in Ukraine, earned a very high salary, and received very large bonuses, and he came to work for us,” Stilerman said in an interview with NV.
As a reminder, in November 2025, media outlets reported that the individual referred to as “Shmel” in audio recordings released by NABU in the “Midas” case was Igor Khmelov.
Meanwhile, even after the corruption scandals, the defense company Fire Point remained a contractor for the Ukrainian army in the production of attack UAVs and the development of the “Flamingo” missile. Throughout 2026, the company signed contracts with the government totaling $1 billion—about 10% of the Armed Forces’ defense procurement for 2026.
Later, journalists from Bihus.Info discovered that Timur Mindich’s business partner and former Fire Point top manager, Igor Khmelov, had been buying up land and resort complexes near Bukovel since 2022. The land plots alone could have cost the buyers about $4.5 million.
According to media reports, Igor Khmelov left Ukraine in November 2025—the very same day that NABU conducted searches at Timur Mindich’s premises. Over the next few weeks, Khmelov began withdrawing from nearly all of his business entities, including his ownership stake in “EVENTUS MANAGEMENT.” His place was taken by the company “Zlagoda Properties,” with which Elianova is also likely associated.
Assets, land, and dozens of properties in Bukovel
Elina Elianova is listed as the founder and beneficial owner of several other businesses. In September 2023, she registered “BEKSTAGE UA” LLC in Dnipro with a contribution to the authorized capital of just 10,000 UAH. Its primary activity is vocational and technical education.
This modest LLC is overshadowed by other large-scale business projects registered under Elianova’s name. The previously mentioned “EVENTUS MANAGEMENT,” whose primary activity is hotels, has a statutory capital of nearly 4.5 million UAH. Currently, its founder is “ZLAGODA PROPERTIES” LLC, again with an authorized capital of 4.5 million UAH.
The LLC owns a list of properties in the Ivano-Frankivsk (Bukovel) and Zakarpattia regions, most of which were registered in December 2025.
- Two buildings located at: Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Nadvirna District, Yablunytsia village, 333b and 333-V Horishkiv Street.
- A building/restaurant with a total area of over 237 square meters. Address: Gorishkiv tract, Yablunytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.
- A building, a vacation home with a pool, with a total area of over 67 square meters. Address: Zakarpattia Oblast.
- A building, a vacation home, with a total area of over 106 square meters. Address: Zakarpattia Oblast.
- A building, a vacation home with a total area of over 180 square meters.
In addition, the company owns 24 land plots, 14 of which, with a total area of 6.0651 hectares, are located in Zakarpattia, and 5 land plots, with a total area of 0.5212 hectares, are located in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. For the most part, these plots are intended for the construction and maintenance of tourism infrastructure facilities and restaurants.
“EVENTUS MANAGEMENT” also holds intellectual property rights to a number of trademarks, including Starr Call.
However, the most interesting aspect is the growth in EVENTUS MANAGEMENT’s revenue: from 100 UAH in 2020 to nearly 3 million UAH in 2025. This is the remarkable success story of a once-unremarkable, low-budget project during the years of war.
