Even after 11 years of russia’s war against Ukraine, some allies of fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych — along with pro-russian separatists and collaborators — still operate businesses and hold millions of dollars in assets inside Ukraine. Among them is Yurii Kharon (also known as Hedeon), a former bishop of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Kyiv Diocese who fled to russia, and his longtime business partner Mykhailo Hoikhman, who remains in Ukraine to this day.
Back under Yanukovych’s regime, the two illegally built a “church tent” on the grounds of a protected UNESCO heritage site in central Kyiv, right near the ruins of the historic Tithe Church. That tent eventually turned into a permanent structure where pro-russian propaganda was regularly preached during services — earning the place a reputation as an “FSB hub”. While that illegal structure has since been demolished, Kharon and Hoikhman still own significant assets in Ukraine, as this report reveals.
Who Is Yurii Kharon and How He Seized Land in Central Kyiv
Yurii Samuilovych Kharon, now 65 years old, was born in Odesa. After serving in the Soviet army, he became a psalm-reader at the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Luhansk. He later moved to the Kursk Diocese, where in 1987 he became a monk and received the name Hedeon. In 1988, he joined the Omsk Diocese and served there until 1989, then moved to Tyumen. In 1991, he immigrated to the United States, where he became a Navy chaplain and served in various churches. He returned to Ukraine in 1999, joined the Kyiv Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate, and in 2005 was appointed head of the Tithe Church in Kyiv.
In 2004, Bishop Hedeon illegally installed a large tent on the territory of a national historical reserve in Kyiv, disguising it as a church. The tent stood untouched for several years. Likely taking advantage of the fact that few people are willing to confront the church directly, the tent was gradually replaced — first by a wooden chapel, and later by a permanent structure with a full foundation. All of this happened on land protected by UNESCO, where any kind of construction is strictly prohibited.
In 2012, with the help of his business associate Olena Paliukh — who at the time was a parliamentary candidate from Natalia Korolevska’s ”Ukraina – Vpered!” (Ukraine – Forward!) party — Yurii Kharon managed to legalize his illegal church near the foundation of the historic Tithe Church through a court decision.
To do this, Paliukh filed a lawsuit, presenting herself as an “investor” and claiming that she had allegedly built the structure now used by the religious community. The court avoided going against the church and ruled in favor of Paliukh and Kharon, officially recognizing the 60-square-meter structure as legitimate. On paper, it was recorded as “three trade kiosks, each 20 square meters.” A year and a half later, a state registrar amended the property records, increasing the size to 133 square meters. This is how Yurii Kharon not only built the church illegally, but then unilaterally declared himself abbot of the Tithe Monastery.
This continued until May 2024, when the so-called “church kiosk” of the Moscow Patriarchate was finally dismantled by court order. Kharon himself had already fled Ukraine for russia at the start of the full-scale invasion. On January 25, 2025, a Mercedes-Benz with Ukrainian license plate KA2094SN and a pro-war Z symbol — used to mark russian aggression against Ukraine — was spotted in moscow. According to official vehicle records, the car belongs to Yurii Kharon.
How Yurii Kharon Carried Out Subversive Activities Against Ukraine
It’s no surprise that Yurii Kharon ended up in russia and began openly supporting its war against Ukraine — he was a committed follower of the “russian world” ideology long before February 24, 2022. From 2007 to 2014, Kharon served as an assistant to Member of Parliament Yurii Miroshnychenko from the Party of Regions. Miroshnychenko was then the official representative of President Yanukovych in the Verkhovna Rada.
At that time, Kharon also co-founded a group called “Virne Kozatstvo” (“Faithful Cossacks”). Members of this organization participated in the Anti-Maidan movement, and after the Revolution of Dignity, some of them went on to fight against Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Since 2008, Kharon has been a citizen of the russian federation. According to ”Ukrainska Pravda”, he received his most recent russian international passport on January 16, 2020.
He has long been one of the loudest voices of russian propaganda in Ukraine and abroad. During his church services, Yurii Kharon regularly repeated old Kremlin talking points, referring to russia’s war against Ukraine as a “civil conflict.”
In 2018, when Ukraine was working to establish an independent national church separate from the russian Orthodox Church, Kharon traveled to the U.S. There, he gave speeches claiming the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) was being “persecuted” in Ukraine, and repeated other standard propaganda narratives — much like another figure from our investigations, Volodymyr Petrov.
While speaking to congregations and clergy in San Francisco, Kharon called the war in Ukraine a “civil war” and described it as a “schism” in which “russian people” were being killed. “People are dying on both sides — Orthodox people, russian people. We do not separate ourselves into russians and Ukrainians. These are not ‘brotherly nations,’ as many say — we are one nation… I ask you to pray that this fratricidal war comes to an end,” Kharon told his American audience.
Now, after russia’s full-scale invasion removed any remaining masks, Yurii Kharon has relocated to russia, where he formally requested to join the russian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev. Today, he openly prays “for the russian army.” His participation in services at russian Orthodox churches is regularly mentioned on ROC diocesan websites.
What’s more, since December 30, 2021, Yurii Kharon has served as the president of a so-called international charity foundation called “Revival of the Spiritual and Cultural Traditions of Kyivan Rus”. The organization is registered in Balashikha, a city in the Moscow region of russia.
What Assets Yurii Kharon Still Owns in Ukraine
Despite his open support for russian aggression and years of pro-kremlin activity, the only consequence Yurii Kharon (a.k.a. Hedeon) has faced in Ukraine is the loss of his Ukrainian citizenship. And even that happened only on the second attempt. The first attempt came in 2018, when the State Migration Service of Ukraine canceled the decision that granted Kharon Ukrainian citizenship back on April 30, 2011. In February 2019, border guards detained Hedeon at Boryspil Airport due to his multiple citizenships — Ukrainian, russian, and American — and denied him entry to Ukraine.
However, on September 18, 2019, the Kyiv District Administrative Court ordered the State Migration Service to restore his Ukrainian citizenship. Neither appeals nor cassation helped — all courts sided with the pro-russian priest. The migration service was only able to revoke Kharon’s Ukrainian citizenship in 2023.
But this hasn’t stopped him from owning property in Ukraine. According to official Ukrainian registries, Yurii Kharon still holds a 474 m² plot of land in the village of Shpytkivka, near Kyiv, where one hundred square meters can cost up to $5,000.
He also owns a 70.1 m² apartment in Kyiv at 14-A Verkhogliada Street, unit 235/2, located in the upscale residential complex “Novopecherski Lypky.” Its market value is approximately $190,000.
Kharon has another apartment in Odesa at 4 Cherniakhovskoho Street, unit 12, worth at least $60,000. He also owns a parking spot there, which could cost over $13,000.
As for vehicles, Hedeon owns two: the black 2021 Mercedes-Benz V 220 CDI spotted in moscow bearing the pro-war “Z” symbol — worth no less than $60,000 — and a black 2008 Porsche Cayenne valued at around $12,000.
In total, the fugitive priest Yurii Kharon still holds assets in Ukraine worth at least $360,000. And all of them remain untouched, while he continues living freely in russia, publicly supporting the war and helping putin’s regime brainwash the russian public into backing the invasion.
How Mykhailo Hoikhman, Kharon’s Partner, Was Behind “Titushky” at the Anti-Maidan
Despite fleeing to russia, Kharon left behind not only his Ukrainian real estate but also a close business partner — Mykhailo Hoikhman, another figure with a long and controversial history. Hoikhman was known as a key financier of Yanukovych’s inner circle. He helped launder money for the regime and was reportedly responsible for funding titushky — paid thugs used to violently disperse protesters during the Euromaidan revolution. Strangely, Hoikhman managed to stay under the radar of both law enforcement and the media. That allowed him to remain in Ukraine and continue his operations after Yanukovych fled the country and his regime collapsed.
Since 2010, Hoikhman has led the Independent Association of Ukrainian Collection Agencies — an industry largely unregulated by Ukrainian law. In 2012, he became an advisor to Serhii Arbuzov, the then-head of the National Bank and a close Yanukovych ally. That role opened doors for Hoikhman to sit on the supervisory boards of three banks: Erste Bank, Kyivska Rus, and FidoBank. The latter two were eventually liquidated and became subjects of criminal investigations.
In September 2012, Hoikhman co-founded the “Revival of the Desiatynna Church Fund” along with Yurii Kharon and Olena Paliukh — the same woman who had helped Kharon legalize his illegal church structure. The fund was likely used to collect donations from Moscow Patriarchate parishioners. During Euromaidan, Hoikhman, who helped organize titushky, used them to guard the illegal church building from protesters demanding its demolition.
The fund still exists today. According to official records, its founders remain Yurii Kharon — now in russia — and Mykhailo Hoikhman, the former shadow financier of the Yanukovych regime.
Which Ukrainian Businessmen Are Linked to Kharon and Hoikhman
Today, Mykhailo Hoikhman remains listed as a founder and beneficiary of eight Ukrainian companies: Logistek LLC, Hermetik Home LLC, NTC Ukrnaftokhim LLC, Marshal-Tour LLC (registered in russian-occupied Yalta), the previously mentioned Desiatynna Church Revival Fund, as well as Klym LLC and the Platinum House housing cooperative.
The last two are worth a closer look. Klym LLC is registered in the elite village of Kozyn near Kyiv. Its official business activity is listed as “comprehensive property management.”
Hoikhman holds a 1.64% stake in this company. The rest belongs to several other Ukrainian businessmen, including some high-profile names. Among them: Nver Mkhitaryan — a Ukrainian politician and owner of the major development firm Poznyakyzhytlobud; Viktor Tkachenko — president of the International Exhibition Center; Valerii Makovetskyi — co-founder of the Foxtrot electronics retail group; and Ivanna Nikonova — wife of wealthy developer Ihor Nikonov, owner of the construction company KAN and a close associate of Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klychko.
Nice company, right? Somehow — though perhaps not so mysteriously — it includes a Yanukovych-era operative and friend of a russian church propagandist: Mykhailo Hoikhman.
What’s even more interesting is that among the co-founders of Klym LLC is a certain Valerii Mykhailovych Mishchenko. He also owns two other companies that are registered under russian law in occupied Crimea: Izumrudnyy Gorod LLC and Lazurnaya Bukhta LLC.
There are no surprises when it comes to Hoikhman — everything’s clear with him. But the involvement of Ihor Nikonov, Nver Mkhitaryan, Valerii Makovetskyi, and Viktor Tkachenko raises serious questions. They’ve partnered with a man who was Yanukovych’s shadow banker, a close friend of Gedeon, and a businessman who pays taxes to the Russian occupiers in Crimea — something our other investigation subject, former Vinnytsia governor Serhii Borzov, also did. These aren’t random shareholders. Their presence in the company suggests a level of trust and being part of the inner circle. So none of this raised any red flags for them? Interesting.
How Mykhailo Hoikhman Still Owns Millions in Ukrainian Assets
As for the Platinum House housing cooperative, registered in Odesa, it officially owns 27 real estate properties at 165 Perekopska Division Street. This includes 10 land plots with a combined area of 1.0565 hectares, and a non-residential utility building covering 116.4 square meters. According to public registries, the address is listed as home to a health center, the Gorky sanatorium, and a bar-hotel called “Gorky’s Dacha.” In reality, however, satellite images from Google Maps show the area is occupied by unfinished townhouse construction.
The co-founders and beneficiaries of the Platinum House cooperative in Odesa include Mykhailo Hoikhman, his wife Tetiana Hoikhman, and Liubov Hlushchenko. Hlushchenko is the mother of Hoikhman’s son, Maksym Hlushchenko — another figure with a controversial background.
Maksym Hlushchenko is a former deputy head of Ukroboronprom during the Yanukovych era. While in office, he oversaw a major collapse in the defense industry. Arms production dropped by 57% year to year, export volumes fell, and profits dropped by nearly half. Hlushchenko has also been linked to corrupt schemes involving Ihor Hladkovskyi and has lobbied for his own interests in military procurement. Not surprisingly, he has close ties with Yurii Kharon, who publicly calls Hlushchenko a friend. Until November 20, 2021, the list of founders of Platinum House also included Olena Paliukh — the same partner of Kharon and Hoikhman involved in the illegal land grab in central Kyiv to build the unauthorized UOC-MP church.
The unfinished townhouses in this part of Odesa are estimated to be worth at least $2.1 million. As for the land they’re built on, plots on this street go for around $29,500 per 100 square meters. This makes the land itself worth at least $3.1 million. Combined, the total value of the Odesa property tied to Hoikhman and his family may exceed $5 million. If sold, that’s how much his inner circle could pocket.
But that’s not all. According to BlackBox OSINT, Hoikhman also owns a residential house in Kozyn, near Kyiv, measuring 153 square meters, with a plot of nearly 700 square meters and a garage. A house in that area costs at least $130,000. He also owns another nearby land plot of 710 square meters, worth about $50,000.
In addition, three large homes near the same Odesa address on Fontanska Road (165/31, 165/36, and 165/37) are registered to Hoikhman. Each is over 250 square meters in size and worth at least $160,000.
Hoikhman also owns half of a customs-licensed warehouse (A-IV) in Boryspil with an area of 5,710 square meters, plus a boiler house and transformer station (B-1) totaling 273 square meters. Warehouses of similar size in Boryspil sell for over UAH 145 million — about $3.5 million.
Altogether, a conservative estimate puts Hoikhman’s personal assets in Ukraine at over $4.15 million. With the Platinum House properties included, the total reaches more than $9 million.
So far, there is no sign of any action from law enforcement agencies regarding Yurii Kharon and Mykhailo Hoikhman or their assets, which remain untouched despite their involvement in activities harmful to Ukraine and its citizens.