Russians destroyed a Kremenchuk plant with a missile: photos of the location were leaked online by local politicians the day before
16 December 18:52
On the night of December 7, during an enemy attack on Kremenchuk, the production facilities of a local hydrocarbon processing plant (ALMA Oil Group LLC) were destroyed. The company was preparing to build new refining facilities. As a result of the Russian attack, expensive production equipment (brought to the company’s premises a few days before the shelling) worth tens of millions of dollars was destroyed. Although the enemy’s constant attacks on strategic facilities have been a reality in which the country has been living for more than four years. The destruction of the enterprise was preceded by the publication of photos of the plant’s location and even a detailed map (from documents of city council decisions) of its location. The situation was investigated by "Komersant Ukrainian".
Who published the photos and maps
The other day, several telegram channels reported that the location of the plant had been leaked online on the eve of the attack. The editorial board decided to check this information and found out that the destruction of the plant was preceded by a political confrontation at the local level, which was actually accompanied by the systematic publication of photos of the facilities.
This was mainly done by Bohdan Lazorenko, a member of the Kremenchuk City Council and head of the EU faction. His Facebook page still contains posts with photos of the plant and calls to block its construction.
The essence of the conflict, in short, was that the land plot for the plant was allegedly allocated by local authorities “in violation of the General Plan.” The position of the Kremenchuk city council, on the other hand, was that all “decisions were made after the Supreme Court ruling (…) and public hearings”. It seems that the parties are still trying to find out who is right in the courts.
However, the “political” battles in this story may be a screen for a completely different confrontation.
Local newspapers
Lazorenko “shares” his Facebook post about the plant with a photo of the facility with the editor of the Kremenchuk Gazeta, Oleh Bulashev, who, in turn, devoted more than a dozen publications to the plant and “MP Lazorenko’s fight for land.” And it was on the pages of the Kremenchuk Gazeta that documents from the city council’s decisions were published , namely the Detailed Plan of the territory of the future oil refinery.
Unexpected data from the Registers
Along with journalism, Oleh Bulashev is also engaged in public activities as a co-founder of the NGO “United Kremenchuk ” (the organization has declared bankruptcy – ed.). His partners in this organization, in addition to the aforementioned EU MP Bohdan Lazorenko, are also:
- Drozdova Iryna Anatoliivna – once a member of Natalia Korolevska’s Ukraine Forward party, and now the director of PJSC Kremenchukmyaso.
- Kuznetsov Serhii Mykolaiovych is the Director of Kremenchukmyaso Trading House LLC.
“Kremenchukmyaso is a company that operates under the Farro brand name and produces more than 170 types of sausage products. The company’s property was seized in 2019. Kremenchukmyas was pledged as collateral on the balance sheet of the Finance and Credit Bank, owned by former MP and businessman Kostiantyn Zhevago. According to Zhevago, since 1998 and over the next 20 years, he has invested $35-40 million in the Kremenchuk meat processing plant.
And, in fact, Kremenchukmyas, as an asset affiliated with Konstantin Zhevago, who is currently under sanctions in Ukraine (sanctions imposed by the National Security and Defense Council and a presidential decree – ed. And almost all of them have a purely “grateful tone”.
How exactly the above-mentioned persons (connected through the same NGO) can “cooperate” with Zhevago today and whether it makes sense to look for a basis for the “merger” of the coordinates of the Ukrainian oil refinery is a question for investigators.
No refineries, but publications continue
Unfortunately, even in the fourth year of the war, this is not the first time that “leaks” of photos, videos, and other coordinates published by Ukrainian politicians or public figures (for PR or discredit purposes) have become a source of data for targeting strategic Ukrainian enterprises by Russian missiles.
More recently, a similar case occurred in Ternopil, when, following a video released by MP Oleksandr Fediyenko, Russia launched a missile attack on the Orion plant.
At the end of 2023, the enemy hit the Chernihiv Regional Music and Drama Theater after a meeting of drone manufacturers was announced on social media.
The SBU is investigating criminal proceedings over the above facts.
The SBU investigators are also working on the events in Kremenchuk.
Although this will not bring back the enterprises lost to Ukraine, the prosecution of at least one public figure for such “leaks” of documents and locations online should teach politicians to put the state goal above their lobbying or PR goals.
