Speaker A
This is the story of Kyiv's curse. Once upon a time, people from all over the Soviet Union loved to visit the mother of Russian cities. Today, when I show Russians or Belarusians what Kyiv has turned into, many don't believe it.
An investigative exposé on Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko, alleging mafia ties, corruption, and the city's decline since 2014.
Key Takeaways
- Vitali Klitschko’s tenure as mayor is marred by serious allegations of criminality and corruption.
- Kyiv’s infrastructure and urban development have significantly lagged behind comparable cities like Moscow.
- The city’s political leadership is deeply entangled with oligarchic and mafia networks.
- There is credible journalistic and official investigation evidence supporting many of these claims.
- The situation reflects broader issues of corruption and oligarchic control in Ukrainian politics.
What the video covers
- The video presents Kyiv as a city suffering under a 'curse' linked to mafia control and corruption.
- Vitali Klitschko, former boxer and current mayor, is accused of criminal activities including pimping, human trafficking, and corruption.
- Klitschko’s rise to power is tied to Ukrainian oligarchs and secret agreements dating back to 2014.
- Kyiv’s infrastructure development has stagnated compared to Moscow, with no new metro stations built since 2014.
- Major construction projects in Kyiv have been dominated by figures connected to Russia, not Ukrainian nationalists.
- Klitschko allegedly owns a large chain of strip clubs operating as brothels, with documented accusations of forced prostitution.
- The murder of Viktor Rybalka, a criminal boss linked to the Klitschko brothers, is surrounded by rumors implicating Vitali Klitschko.
- Corruption in Kyiv’s city government involves massive kickbacks and theft estimated in the billions of hryvnias.
- Klitschko is portrayed as a mafia boss controlling Kyiv’s political and economic landscape, facing investigations from Ukrainian authorities.
- The video contrasts Kyiv’s decline with Moscow’s urban development under technocratic leadership.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction: Kyiv's Curse and Decline
- 01:24Comparison of Kyiv and Moscow Infrastructure
- 02:51Personal Encounters and Police Deaths
- 04:25Klitschko's Political Connections and Rise
- 05:38Klitschko's Alleged Criminal Network and Brothels
- 07:08Femen Activists and Human Trafficking Accusations
- 08:29Klitschko's Dual Role and German Citizenship Rumors
- 10:07Corruption, Kickbacks, and Political Rivalries
- 11:49Historical Context and Urban Development Contrast
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
They say, "Well, a once-beautiful city couldn't possibly turn into a dump." Imagine an American movie. A city under a curse is seized by the mafia, which then appoints its own mayor. What would a mayor appointed by the mafia look
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like? He would need to have criminal ties and not be a very decent person.
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Well, for example, a former boxer, pimp, and owner of strip clubs. Do you think that can only happen in the movies? That is exactly the reality that Kyiv is living in. A former boxer, a mafia member accused of treason,
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corruption, pimping, human trafficking, and drug dealing. Friends, these are not just my conclusions. All of this is available in the public domain.
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Investigations by official bodies and journalists. And if you start looking into Klitschko's activities, you will be horrified. I also know Klitschko personally; as a journalist, I have observed him at countless events and meetings. So, when I allow myself to
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call him not the brightest, I know what I'm talking about. I say this responsibly. He is the man who is killing a once-beautiful city. Dear Kyivans, imagine if 81 new metro stations had been built in Kyiv since 2014, and another 150 had been
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renovated. That means a total of 230 brand-new stations would have opened, robot delivery units would roam the streets, and electric river trams with free Wi-Fi and cafes inside would cruise the Dnieper. That would be beautiful, simply magical. Well,
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everything I just listed is about Moscow. They say they've even run out of colors to name the metro lines.
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There are even lime and turquoise lines. Oh my god. Once again, in Moscow, they opened 230 metro stations, and that number continues to grow. In Kyiv, it’s zero. In total, the major construction projects in Kyiv over 35
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years have been two shopping malls and two business centers. The Gulliver business center, built by Viktor Polishchuk, who was close to the Yanukovych family and regularly visited Russia. There are rumors that his wife is a relative of Medvedev's wife, as
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well as the Parus Tower and the largest shopping center, Lavina Mall. They were built by Vagif Aliyev, a Russian citizen and former honorary consul of the Russian Federation. The central Ocean Plaza shopping center was built and owned by that same Russian citizen,
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Aliyev, and the Rotenberg family. So, everything built during the years of independence was built by people connected to Russia. And now, friends, tell me, what have the representatives of the Ukrainian nationalist idea built in Ukraine over 35 years? A monument to
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the Holodomor. Honestly, even the Ukrainian restaurants in Moscow are better than those in Ukraine. But let's return to the man who is running Kyiv.
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I met with many police officers who died, and with protesters who died. And everyone asks the question: "Well, today, not everyone can look into tomorrow." Rather, not everyone can look into it. Few people can do that.
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Flies and bees. The issue of wages is not on the table today. I don't even know where the wage gets its wages. It is well known to everyone that in the nineties Klitschko was in the gang of the Ukrainian
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thief-in-law Rybka. Also known as Viktor Rybalka. It is to the thief-in-law Rybka that the Klitschko brothers owe their careers. He financed their training and introduced them to promoters.
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Thanks to Rybka, the Klitschko brothers ended up in professional sports. However, in exchange, they agreed to give Rybka half of their sports and advertising income for the rest of their lives. In May, Viktor Rybalka was returning to Kiev. During a meeting
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with the brothers, they made it clear to him that they were no longer going to pay. A week later, Rybka was killed.
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Killers fired 20 bullets at him in the center of Kiev. The murder of the criminal boss sparked many rumors. In certain circles, it is still believed that it was Vitali Klitschko who made a deal with two other businessmen and
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ordered the hit on his former boss. We, of course, do not claim this. After finishing their boxing careers, the Klitschko brothers decided to engage in business and politics the only way they knew how. Klitschko became mayor of Kiev in 2014 at a secret meeting with
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Ukrainian oligarchs Lyovochkin, Firtash, and Poroshenko. As a protege of Lyovochkin, the very same head of President Yanukovych's administration.
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Ukrainians fought so hard on the Maidan against the oligarchs that they ended up with a mayor and a president who were approved by the oligarchs. A confidential agreement was signed between Poroshenko and Klitschko.
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Poroshenko becomes president, and Klitschko becomes mayor. What about the Firtash deal? I see. How did Lyovochkin end up there in Vienna at your meeting?
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I meet with all the politicians present in Ukrainian politics. Klitschko owns the largest chain of brothels in Ukraine. Many Ukrainian and foreign politicians were invited there.
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Compromising material was collected on them. The cost is 500 hryvnias. Tell us if you like this one.
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It's clear that everyone comes here not for the dancing. The average earnings here are about 2,500 dollars a month, if the girl earns it. So it turns out the club operates as a brothel. One outing with a client is 300 dollars.
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Essentially a brothel under the guise of a strip club in the city center. Despite the fact that prostitution is allegedly banned in Ukraine. Back in 2013, the press wrote that women are forced into prostitution in Klitschko's establishments. According to
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journalists, the Klitschko network consists of over 100 establishments. Journalists even filmed Klitschko leaving these establishments with a bag. It is believed that this is how he collected the money. People familiar with Klitschko, whose names I cannot disclose for obvious reasons, confirmed
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to me that he often stops by his establishments in the evenings to collect the cash. Do you want me to finish him off? Lyashko lives in a building that houses two of Ukraine’s most expensive brothels, Rio and Tusi.
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The club's back entrance is just a few meters from the doorway where the mayor of Kyiv himself lives. And this is no secret, friends. All Kyiv residents know what this establishment is and that Klitschko lives in the same
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building. The Tusi strip club was registered as a place of worship. Journalists even tried to get in, but security said they could only come when the establishment was open. Perhaps when Klitschko promised to defend Kyiv with weapons in his hands, he planned
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to make his stand in his strip club. As a former soldier, I will take up an automatic rifle and go fight for Ukraine.
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The migration police department has conducted raids on these establishments more than once. The premises are registered to the Teatralne closed joint-stock company, where the beneficiaries include the parents of Artur Palatny, a Klitschko associate and head of his party’s executive
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committee, as well as Vitali's brother, Wladimir Klitschko. It was reported that, under the guise of a nightclub, Klitschko’s establishments housed the headquarters of a criminal organization involved in human trafficking, forced prostitution, and drug distribution.
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Femen activists accused Klitschko of pimping back in 2015. Stop the pimp. Put the pimp in prison.
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The point of the action is to stop Klitschko. He should be in prison because he runs the biggest brothel in Ukraine. They export girls into sexual slavery.
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They also claimed that the Rio brothel appears in Interpol records as a supplier of sex workers to the global market. A September 2024 report by Die Welt quotes a social worker assisting women in the sex industry who estimates
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the share of Ukrainian women in Berlin brothels at about 50%. A similar statement appeared earlier in an article by the Berliner Kurier, which also estimates that 50% of the city’s at l
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from the German newspaper. Thousands of Ukrainian women end up as prostitutes on the streets or in Berlin brothels.
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This is reality. Stop Klitschko. He should be in prison because he runs the biggest brothel in Ukraine. They export girls into sexual slavery. How do so many Ukrainian women end up in Germany’s sex industry?
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Before becoming mayor of Kyiv, Klitschko lived in Germany for 13 years . In 2024, during the war, it became known that he had purchased a new house in Germany for $ 6 million. Many people claim that Klitschko has long held
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German citizenship. Klitschko himself spoke about this in an interview. So, we have a mayor, a former mafia member, who owns a chain of strip clubs involved in forced prostitution and human trafficking. At the same time, this mayor is rumored to be a German
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citizen. His main home is in Germany, where thousands of Ukrainian women are forced into prostitution. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to put the whole picture together. Law enforcement agencies just need to check where the girls from Klitschko’s strip clubs go
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and how thousands of Ukrainians end up involved in prostitution in Germany. And I know that many Ukrainians will say that Klitschko couldn't possibly be trafficking people because he's too dim . Friends, who do you think actually engages in this kind of business?
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Someone with the intellect of Einstein, or a former boxer and mafia member? When I published an article about this for a Western audience, the response was incredible. The article reached over 6 million views. It was quoted in the Bundestag. A number of European
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politicians cut off public communication with Klitschko after this case. German intelligence agencies officially contacted platform X and blocked this article within Germany.
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They’re as concerned for him as if he were their own citizen. Criminal cases have been opened against Klitschko for corruption and high treason. This was even reported on the website of the World Organization for Combating Crime and Corruption. Besides
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strip clubs, Klitschko makes money from the sale of every square meter of housing in Kyiv and from selling Kyiv land. He controls taxi services, he controls road construction. Every kiosk represents billions of dollars.
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Klitschko is a mafia boss who has brought Kyiv under his heel. Andriy Bohdan, who at the time was the head of President Zelensky's office, stated in July 2019 that he was offered a 20 million dollar annual bribe to keep
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Klitschko in power. 40 million dollars a year. He asked not to remove the head of the Kyiv City State Administration and proposed splitting that budget in half. That’s over half a million dollars a month in cash. Judging by the
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fact that Klitschko remained mayor, Bohdan, or someone else in Zelensky's office, must have taken the bribe. And we aren't, of course, talking about a laughable sum of 20 million by these people's standards. As I said, Klitschko's main and most powerful
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patron is Serhiy Lyovochkin. Well, for all these years, Lyovochkin has been in close contact with Andriy Yermak. It was Yermak who saved Klitschko from prison. And although Zelensky's office has been attacking Klitschko, albeit half-heartedly, all these years, saying that they've turned the city
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into God knows what, turning Kyiv into some sort of village. These attacks are laughable given that Zelensky long ago physically eliminated his real enemies, imprisoned them, stripped them of citizenship, or forced them to leave the country. Of course, Klitschko does
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not do all of this alone, but together with his inner circle. Someone might call this the Kyiv mafia. Who do you think are the closest friends of a corrupt big-city mayor? That's right, of course, property developers. There were two main scammers in the Kyiv
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development market. Vadim Stolar and Maksym Mykytas. During searches in a corruption case at Kyiv City Hall, a painting was found where Klitschko, Stolar, and Mykytas are depicted as saints. Klitschko, Stolar, and Mykytas flew on the same private jet. And were
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you dining with Mr. Klitschko or just meeting without— who are these closest friends of Klitschko? It is believed that no important city government decision regarding financial, or especially construction and land matters, happens without Stolar's knowledge. Some observers even call him Mayor
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Klitschko’s financial and political coach, his handler for all key political and financial matters. I will simply list a few facts about Vadym Stolar's activities: he is accused of stealing 50 hectares of land near the Dnieper in Kyiv and appears in
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investigations regarding ties to Russian special services, with evidence of corruption and collaboration. Since 2021, the Prosecutor's Office has opened several criminal cases against Stolar, including those for money laundering and tax evasion. In 2023, the SBU conducted searches at Stolar's
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companies on suspicion of laundering money for Medvedchuk, Kozak, and other sanctioned individuals. In 2025, searches were conducted at Stolar's premises related to the financing of terrorism. Furthermore, back in 2019, he was deported from the US for the official reason of participating in an
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international criminal organization and money laundering. Stolar has earned hundreds of millions of dollars from his friendship with Klitschko.
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Klitschko, of course, always had his own interests as well. Klitschko’s second friend, Mykytas, also earned quite well. He is linked to the bankruptcy of the Ukrbud company. The company halted construction on thirty sites in Kyiv. The losses for Kyiv
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residents amounted to over a billion dollars. Mykytas is suspected of being involved in a scheme involving the exchange of luxury housing in the center of Kyiv. In 2023, the NABU served him with a notice of suspicion for embezzling funds during the
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construction of warehouses for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Two years earlier, Mykytas was even arrested in a case involving the kidnapping and extortion of lawyer Oleh Miroshnychenko . And in 2022, a case was opened against him for attempting to bribe the
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mayor of Dnipro with 22 million euros. Mykytas also appears in cases involving money laundering, corporate raiding, and working with companies that have Russian shareholders. And the cherry on top, friends: Mykytas was the first in Ukraine to buy a Lamborghini Urus for
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650,000 euros. Stolar drives the same kind of Lamborghini, but not through Kyiv—he drives it on the French Riviera. For Kyiv, this trio of crooks has done absolutely nothing. For instance, 95%of the bridges in Kyiv are in an emergency condition, and no one
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is intending to fix them. The reason is obvious. Huge budgets can be siphoned off through the repair and construction of bridges. In this footage is the unfinished Podil-Voskresensky Bridge.
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It was supposed to connect one of Kyiv’s largest residential districts, Troieshchyna, to the right bank. They started building it back under Kuchma, then simply abandoned it, and in a classic Ukrainian way, kept allocating money to "finish" it. But no one was
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building anything; they were just stealing. At one point, the largest crane in Ukraine even sank there. Or perhaps someone helped it sink in order to embezzle even more money. Ultimately , the bridge is in an emergency state and will one day collapse, as no one
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even bothered to secure it. So, let’s count the budget. A total of over 20 billion hryvnias. That is nearly 2 billion dollars. This is the total amount spent on the project since construction began in 2003, which was resumed by Kryuchkov after the Maidan.
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Journalists call it a gold mine for corrupt officials, with cynical theft even during the war. According to media estimates, the amount that Klitschko and his circle stole from Kiev on this long-term construction project alone exceeds 10 billion hryvnias. That is 3
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billion dollars. The bridge is still not operational. Another marvel of urban development, or rather of budget embezzlement, is the pedestrian bridge in Kiev, popularly dubbed the " Klitschko Bridge." This bridge, believe it or not, was finished and opened.
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Well, "bridge" is a stretch—it’s just a small pedestrian walkway. And it is worth noting here that while Klitschko may not be a genius, he has some top-notch PR people on his team.
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Let me explain. Before the war, Kiev faced a catastrophic shortage of kindergartens. So, what would you do?
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Build 100 kindergartens, making 10,000 families happy, or open an Instagrammable pedestrian bridge that nobody needs, but where everyone will take photos and boost your ratings?
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Klitschko, of course, chose the latter. And the price tag was quite modest: 11 million dollars. But things didn't turn out so well. On the second day, the protective glass cracked in two sections of the floor. It was fenced
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off, and walking there was prohibited. 5.8 million dollars is the estimated amount suspected to have been embezzled through inflated project costs. This includes cutting corners on materials.
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The cracks are proof of that, along with "efficient" tenders and kickbacks through contractors. I am acquainted with the bridge's architect; in private conversations, he complained that his design was implemented with violations, with a large part of the necessary
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budget being stolen. And finally, the most unfortunate bridge in Kiev—the Shuliavskyi Bridge, the one that "got tired" and became a meme. Klitschko had been ignoring warnings about the condition of the Shuliavskyi Bridge since 2015. And as a result, the bridge
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collapsed in 2017. Or, as Vitali himself later said, it "got tired." The bridge was in a hazardous condition . It was in ruins.
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It must be said that there were constant traffic jams in that area, and a new exit was needed. But by the end of 2020, instead of a modern interchange, Kievans effectively received just an updated old bridge.
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Moreover, they failed to build a full cloverleaf junction as planned. That is why there are still terrible traffic jams in this spot to this day. And yes, not even a year later, the bridge got " tired" again. In November 2019, the SBU
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opened a criminal case regarding this matter against Klitschko for abuse of power. The suspicion: price inflation of 12 million dollars through fictitious work and subcontracts.
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Deputies noted that the cost had tripled, from 23 million to 97 million dollars. The bridge still isn't fully operational and remains to this day a glaring symbol of corruption and theft within the Kiev City Administration. If we assume that Klitschko and his circle
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—which includes not only his inner team but also the shadow mayor of Kiev, Komarnitsky, and his partner Tyshchenko —received 50-70%of the kickbacks, then media estimates suggest the total amount stolen by this group from 2014 to 2026 exceeds 10 billion hryvnias.
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That is almost 350 million dollars. And that is just from the bridges. This sum does not include other projects, for instance, construction and the buying and selling of elite land. And if you add it all up, we are talking about 20
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billion hryvnias. That is almost 700 million dollars. In May 2020, Kiev City Council deputies accused Mayor Klitschko of a multi-million bus scam.
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According to deputy Kutnyak, Klitschko planned to purchase buses by bypassing the tender through shell companies, which would have allowed for a markup of nearly 10 million euros. The scheme, fortunately for the people of Kiev, was exposed. However, Klitschko profited
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from hospital renovations. In 2023, a scandal erupted over the renovation of the war veterans 'hospital. The amount embezzled was 30 million dollars. The cynicism of the situation is compounded by the fact that they stole not only from the hospital upgrades but also
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from the construction of shelters for patients. However, already in '25, NABU and SAP conducted an anti-corruption operation against Klitschko and his cronies. According to NABU, the operation, codenamed "Clean City," was aimed at uncovering a criminal organization linked to land corruption
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within the city government. Searches were conducted at the home of Klitschko’s bagman, Denis Komarnitsky . His companies regularly received large construction contracts from the city authorities. Searches were also carried out at Klitschko's house, the very one where a strip club had
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previously been closed down. According to my information, Zelensky himself set the NABU and SAP detectives on Klitschko. Zelensky considers Klitschko one of his main opponents in potential elections. And not without reason; it is Klitschko who might be backed by the
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European Union, primarily in Germany. Today, the war between Klitschko and Zelensky resembles a fight between a toad and a viper. Can you imagine a greater punishment for a country at war ? The mayor of the capital is a boxer,
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the president is an actor. As I have already said, the European Union will actively promote Klitschko. To them, he is the ideal candidate. Not very smart, completely controllable. And most importantly, there is a lot of compromising material on him. This
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video, friends, I filmed primarily for the people of Kiev. I lived in Kiev for 15 years, and those were not the worst of years. I arrived in Kiev when it was already in decline after Chernovetsky, but what happened to it with the
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arrival of Klitschko evokes nothing but horror. I am addressing the people of Kiev; I know how painful it is for you to hear what you do not like. For 30 years, you were told where we need to go and why. And to get there, you
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staged a massacre in the very center of the old city, killing each other, and then erected a monument to this massacre. You cut down the cross on the Maidan. And ironically, the Femen activist who did that back then is now
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in France. You are in Kiev without electricity, water, or heat. You can endlessly blame Russia for all of this, but look at these frames. This was what Kiev was like with Russia. Green, well-kept, streets paved with cobblestones, buildings in the
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classicist style. Just a little bit of history. After the second partition of Poland, Right-Bank Ukraine became part of the empire, and Kiev became the center of the governorate-general. The abolition of tariff barriers contributed to a trade boom. The city
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became a key hub on the route from Russia to Ukraine, with developed commerce, fairs, and exports of grain, sugar, and timber. Industry flourished, and factories for machinery and textiles appeared. It was in Kiev that the first electric tram in the empire
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was launched, and railways connected Kiev with Moscow and Odessa, stimulating the economy. Under the Russian Empire, Kiev's population grew 12-fold. From 20,000 to 250,000 in 100 years. The opera and philharmonic buildings were constructed. Yes, friends, as unpleasant as this is to
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hear. This was also built by Russians. In the Soviet era, Kiev became a symbol of industrialization and urbanization, turning into one of the Union's leading cities. Among the largest plants built were Arsenal and Bolshevik. The city became an industrial giant, and by 1940
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, the population reached nearly 900,000 people. I asked Kiev residents: "How could you vote for Klitschko?" And in response, I often heard: "He is known in the world, and he knows English." However, there is one clarification.
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These Kiev residents recently arrived from Rivne, Lviv, and other beautiful cities in Western Ukraine. If at the beginning of the video I made an analogy with a mafia that seized the city, in reality, this mafia is the Lvivites who have seized Kiev. And now,
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friends, I want you to look at these shots. While the mother of Russian cities headed to Europe under the leadership of a bandit and a boxer, Moscow headed toward itself. It has now objectively become one of the best
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cities on the planet. Moscow is led by a technocrat and an administrator. The best specialists from all over the world work on city projects. Kiev residents were once very proud that their mayor was known all over the world. Maybe the whole world doesn't
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know Sobyanin's name, but the whole world applauds his work today. This is a story about how you reap what you sow , that by giving power to a person not for professionalism but for sports achievements, Kiev residents, along
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with Klitschko, ruined both themselves and a once-beautiful city. They betrayed themselves and their city, renounced their native language, even though Kiev was always Russian-speaking . They demolished monuments to those who built and defended this city. They drove the monks out of the Lavra. I
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will say what I think, friends: today, only Russians can save Kiev, if, of course, anyone still needs it. M.
Topics:Vitali KlitschkoKyiv corruptionUkrainian mafiaKyiv infrastructurehuman trafficking UkraineUkrainian oligarchsKyiv mayor scandalUkrainian politicsMaidan protestsKyiv urban development
