Road monopoly: how Maksym Shkil became the main contractor of the “Great Construction” through the system of godparenthood
The notorious Podilsko-Voskresensky Bridge, which is the most expensive infrastructure project in Kyiv, continues to “suck” money from the budget even after its launch. Last summer, more than 1 billion hryvnias were additionally allocated for it. The tender winner was the company “Avtostrada”, which, by coincidence, is involved in the case of massive embezzlement during the construction of this bridge.
Moreover, “Avtostrada” wins state procurements for road maintenance in many regions of Ukraine with a shocking budget. The company will earn the most on road maintenance in the Zhytomyr region — 4.7 billion hryvnias. The firm was the sole participant in this tender. It turned out that the company remains a market leader despite accusations of embezzlement, corruption, and cartel collusion thanks to the right connections of its founder Maksym Shkil and his family ties.
The procurement for road maintenance services in the Zhytomyr region was carried out in April 2026. In the same month, “Avtostrada” became the winner in tenders for road maintenance in the Kirovohrad region for 1.6 billion hryvnias and in the Chernihiv region for 1.9 billion hryvnias. In June 2026, the company signed a contract for road maintenance in the Kyiv region for 1.9 billion hryvnias. That is, the budget for just these four procurements in 2026 reaches almost 10 billion hryvnias.
In the spring of 2026, the founder of “Avtostrada” Maksym Shkil stated that debts for work performed to his company amount to 6 billion hryvnias, of which 1 billion is allegedly debt for projects in Kyiv. The Kyiv City State Administration denied the existence of debts, after which Shkil managed to delete the publication in which he complained that his company was not paid on time.
An analysis of Shkil’s statements shows that he quite often likes to say things far from the truth. Thus, in an interview with “Babel” he said that “Avtostrada” implements projects with its own funds with post-payment from state and municipal structures. If you look at the road tenders mentioned above, you can see that these statements do not quite correspond to reality. The performance of work by “Avtostrada” is carried out with an advance from the state budget in the amount of 30%.
The company “Avtostrada” burst into the leaders of state orders for road construction and maintenance with the beginning of the presidential program “Great Construction”. This was preceded by a series of right connections and the placement of its people in state structures.
Maksym Shkil was born in Lviv. There, his family had a mineral water production plant, which is now not operating and is up for sale. He began actively doing business in the Zhytomyr region, specifically in granite quarries. According to him, he had no money of his own, so he borrowed funds from his godfather Igor Popadyuk. Interestingly, it is in the Zhytomyr region that Shkil’s “Avtostrada” won the largest tender for road maintenance.
Igor Popadyuk is the son of the well-known businessman Anatoliy Popadyuk. His father was at the origins of the “Bukovel” resort together with the former people’s deputy Oleksandr Shevchenko. It is known that the resort was later bought by the “Privat” group, and it is actively managed by people’s deputy Ihor Palytsia. This fact should be remembered, because it is obvious that it was Palytsia who later played a role in Shkil’s successful business.
The elder Popadyuk had a lot of right connections. He worked as deputy head of “Naftogaz of Ukraine” when it was headed by Oleksiy Ivchenko, who is also his godfather. Ivchenko is known for the scandalous story of purchasing a Mercedes car at the expense of “Naftogaz”, for which he received the nickname “Lyosha-Mercedes”. Also, it was under Ivchenko that the intermediary company “RosUkrEnergo” appeared in the gas sector, which became a feeding trough for the former oligarch who now lives in Vienna — Dmytro Firtash. By the way, it is in Austria that Maksym Shkil’s godfather — Ihor Popadyuk — currently resides. According to registries, he had some business there.
After leaving “Naftogaz”, the elder Popadyuk worked as an assistant to people’s deputy Andriy Lopushanskyi, who is now part of the “European Solidarity” faction. Popadyuk and Lopushanskyi worked together at the state-owned “Naftogaz” and are also owners of several hotels and restaurants in Western Ukraine.
In 2008, the media wrote that Ivchenko and Lopushanskyi needed their own person in “Ukrzaliznytsia” and they helped appoint Mykhailo Kostiuk as head, who previously had business interests with the people’s deputy. Later, Kostiuk became head of the Lviv Regional State Administration, from where both Shkil and his godfather Igor Popadyuk are from, and it was through his father that he introduced him to the right people.
During this same period, Maksym Shkil registers the “First Logistics Company”, which is engaged in transportation. To secure contracts, his people in “Ukrzaliznytsia” came in handy, including the mentioned Mykhailo Kostiuk and the then head of freight transportation and logistics at “UZ” Ivan Fedorko.
Fedorko is valuable to Maksym Shkil because he has been working on the railway since the 90s and knows the entire system from the inside. True, in 2016 he became a figure in a shocking incident. Fedorko, while in a state of alcoholic intoxication, crashed into the car of the now-deceased photojournalist Max Levin. At that time, the official was fired, but he got off with only a fine.
Fedorko returned to public service in 2021. Then he was appointed advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov. And at this very time, the presidential program “Great Construction” began to be actively promoted, one of the participants of which was Maksym Shkil’s company “Avtostrada”.
In 2023, Fedorko returned to “Ukrzaliznytsia” again. To this day he heads the department of buildings and structures.
The media reported that Fedorko’s daughter previously worked at Maksym Shkil’s “First Logistics Company” and also has her own logistics company.
But this is not even the last acquaintance in the Ministry of Infrastructure who could contribute to the development of Shkil’s business.
Maksym Shkil owns several land plots and a huge estate in the village of Lisnyky.
This is a scandalous development and it became known back in 2016. Then journalists found out that the daughter of the deputy minister of internal affairs Oksana Chebotar and a relative of the then head of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov, Raisa Vyshnevska, built houses on lands of the forestry. In order for construction to become possible on these plots, the lands were quietly withdrawn and transferred to the balance of the village council. The courts in this case have been going on for almost 10 years.
As of now, Chebotar and Vyshnevska continue to be the owners of land in Lisnyky. And together with them Maksym Shkil and his mother. If you look at Google Maps, Shkil’s estate is the largest of all on these plots. Shkil formalized the land for himself only in 2024 and 2025.
His neighbors on plots in Lisnyky include, for example, businessman Harik Korogodskyi, the wife of Kyiv Regional Council deputy Vyacheslav Sobolev, Prosecutor of the Office of the Prosecutor General Hanna Zamkova, member of the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors Anatoliy Kovalenko, former people’s deputy and member of the Party of Regions Dmytro Sandler, who does business with Russians, and so on.
But in the context of connections in the Ministry of Infrastructure, the owner of another plot turned out to be interesting — Liliya Horbatenko. She is likely a relative of the former board member and operating director of “Ukrzaliznytsia”, ex-director of the Odesa Railway Vyacheslav Yeryomin. A woman with the same name gave 1 million hryvnias to the official’s wife in 2016. This is recorded in the railway worker’s declaration.
Liliya Horbatenko formalized almost 60 hundred square meters of land next to Maksym Shkil’s land in 2021.
In an interview with “Babel”, Maksym Shkil denied that the former Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan is his godfather. However, he mentioned another interesting detail — he is acquainted with Omelyan’s predecessor Andriy Pyvovarskyi. According to him, he generally maintains good relations with the financial and industrial group “Kontyniuum” (WOG gas stations), from which Pyvovarskyi came to a state position.
The group previously belonged to businessman Igor Yeremeyev, who in 2016 unexpectedly fell from a horse and died. For a long time, his inheritance was divided between the family and two business partners. According to people’s deputy Ihor Palytsia, he helped Yeremeyev’s wife in this matter. It is likely that it was through Palytsia, with whom Maksym Shkil may be acquainted thanks to his godfather Igor Popadyuk, that the founder of “Avtostrada” found an access point to “Kontyniuum”. Then, with established connections, it was not difficult to reach Kubrakov, who launched the “Great Construction”, and now Oleksiy Kuleba.
At the beginning of the material, it was mentioned that the company “Avtostrada” is suspected of embezzlement on state contracts. However, the cases are moving extremely slowly. For example, the case concerning the embezzlement of budget funds during the construction of the main water pipeline “Khortytsia (DVS2)-Tomakivka-Marganets”, the need for which arose after the Russians destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. The investigation found out that “Avtostrada” systematically inflated prices for sand, thereby causing large losses to the budget. The case has been under consideration for two years, but there are almost no results.
As already mentioned, “Avtostrada” is a figure in the criminal case regarding the construction of the Podilsko-Voskresensky Bridge. The investigation is not only not moving forward, but even more — Shkil’s “Avtostrada” continues to receive billions of hryvnias on this contract.
No wonder, having so many influential acquaintances, being friends with almost all infrastructure ministers over the last 10 years, keeping one’s people in “Ukrzaliznytsia” and living next door to prosecutors, deputies and other influential people — this is the secret of Ukrainian business. And Maksym Shkil is a vivid example of this. Godparenthood continues to open any government offices, even if a considerable burden of criminal cases hangs over the entrepreneur.
Author: Maryna Onopko
Редактор-аналітик
Спеціалізується на поглибленому аналізі подій та їхніх наслідків. Має досвід співпраці з міжнародними медіапартнерами та експертними організаціями.
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