On October 12, 2026, the HACC Appeals Chamber reviewed the sentence handed down to Leonid Shyman, former Director General of the Pavlohrad Chemical Plant, and Valerii Kyrylov, its former Commercial Director, who had earlier been found guilty of abuse of office. Their actions caused the state enterprise Pavlohrad Chemical Plant over UAH 43.3 million in losses.

The Appeals Chamber partially amended the sentence and rejected in full the civil claim to recover over UAH 36.2 million in damages caused to the state enterprise. Because some of the episodes were found unproven, Shyman and Kyrylov were also released from punishment, as the statute of limitations had expired.

Why did the appeals court amend the sentence?

At first instance, the HACC found Shyman and Kyrylov guilty of abuse of office (Article 28(2) and Article 364(2) of the Criminal Code). Leonid Shyman was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, a fine of UAH 17,000, and a three-year ban on holding managerial positions. Valerii Kyrylov received 4.3 years in prison, a UAH 15,300 fine, and a three-year ban on holding managerial positions.

The first-instance court also ordered Shyman and Kyrylov to pay, jointly and severally, UAH 36.2 million to the state, represented by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Investigators had put the total losses from the scheme at UAH 43.3 million, which the prosecutor sought to recover through a civil claim. The court justified the lower amount by noting that UAH 7 million in property damage had already been recovered in a separate criminal case involving Valerii Kyrylov.

However, the panel of the HACC Appeals Chamber reviewed the defense lawyers’ appeals and partially granted them.

1. First, the court fully overturned the decision to recover over UAH 36 million and rejected the civil claim, because the prosecution had filed it on behalf of an entity that was not the proper plaintiff for this portion of the losses. Notably, in a separate case against the same Kyrylov, the civil claim was not overturned on appeal. The key difference was that in Kyrylov’s case, the claim was filed on behalf of the Pavlohrad Chemical Plant itself, whereas in the joint case of Shyman and Kyrylov, the claims were brought first on behalf of the Ministry of Strategic Industries and later on behalf of the Ministry of Defense.
2. Second, the judges removed from the charges the episode involving the plant’s dealings with Zoria Research and Production Enterprise LLC. The appeals court concluded that the prosecution had failed to prove the elements of a crime in the executives’ actions in this episode.
3. Third, given the change in the circumstances of the proven offenses, the HACC Appeals Chamber found that the statute of limitations for criminal liability had expired. The court therefore released both former top managers from serving the sentences imposed at first instance.

The SAPO has already stated that once it receives the full text of the ruling, its prosecutors will decide whether to file a cassation appeal against the Appeals Chamber’s ruling.

What was the scheme?

According to investigators, in 2013–2016, Pavlohrad Chemical Plant Director General Leonid Shyman, in collusion with Commercial Director Valerii Kyrylov, set up a scheme to sell industrial explosives produced at the state enterprise through intermediary companies under their control.

The companies bought explosives from the plant at below-market prices and then resold them to the actual customers at a markup of about 30%. The intermediaries served a purely paper function, since the products were shipped to consumers — mining companies — directly from the state enterprise’s warehouses.

This is not the first case involving Leonid Shyman. He is also a suspect or defendant in cases concerning:

• the supply of UAH 3.3 billion worth of defective mines to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (being heard by the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv);
• the embezzlement of UAH 102.4 million in the procurement of explosive reactive armor for the Armed Forces’ armored vehicles (HACC);
• the procurement of measuring instruments for the plant at inflated prices (HACC);
• abuses worth nearly UAH 28.5 million in a 2016 pipe procurement (HACC).

In another case, Valerii Kyrylov has already been sentenced to four years in prison for formally bringing intermediary companies into the sale of explosives produced by the Pavlohrad Chemical Plant.