Elite real estate worth $2 million: Family of Transcarpathian SSU chief Kononenko purchased 23 townhouses and an office center for a pittance

Elite real estate worth $2 million: Family of Transcarpathian SSU chief Kononenko purchased 23 townhouses and an office center for a pittance

What is known about Kononenko? 

Serhiy Kononenko has been working in the SBU at least since 2016. In particular, in the Kyiv region directorate.  

From 2019 to 2021 he worked at the State Fiscal Service: first as head of the internal security department, then as deputy head of the Kyiv directorate.

After that he returned to the SBU. In 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Kononenko head of the SSU in Kirovohrad region . In 2024 he took over the SSU Directorate in Zakarpattia region and still holds the post.

23 townhouses near Kyiv

The media found that Serhiy Kononenko’s mother, sister, brother-in-law, mother-in-law and father-in-law registered 23 townhouses in two interconnected cottage communities over several years. The market value of the investment in this property, which Kononenko’s relatives owned at one time, could have reached about one million dollars.

Eleven townhouses were acquired in the Dream House cottage community near Boryspil. It is a half-hour drive from the capital. 

Dream House cottage community, youtube Dream House

Serhiy Kononenko’s sister Olha Maslenko and her husband Maksym Maslenko became owners of 11 land plots with already built townhouses at the end of 2022. There are 11 of them in total.

Google Earth satellite image, July 2022

Six townhouses average 96 square meters each, another five – 85 square meters each. 

In November 2022, such townhouses in this cottage community’s social media were being sold at a discount for more than 48 and 43 thousand dollars respectively.

Real estate sale advertisement on Dream House Instagram, November 2022

Thus, the minimum market value of these 11 townhouses at the time of acquisition could have exceeded 500 thousand dollars. 

Another 12 townhouses were acquired by the SSU official’s relatives in another cottage community in Kyiv region – “Palaris”. 

“Palaris” cottage community, youtube KM “Palaris”

Two townhouses of 76 square meters each belong to the already mentioned sister of the official, Olha Maslenko. She bought the land under them in April 2023, although satellite images show that nearly completed structures stood on this land a year earlier.

Google Earth satellite image, July 2022

In 2023 one such townhouse cost about 1.8 million hryvnias, i.e. almost 50 thousand dollars. So these two properties could have cost Olha Maslenko 100 thousand dollars at that time. 

Real estate sale advertisement on KM “Palaris” Instagram, September 2023

Three more townhouses in the “Palaris” cottage community now belong to the mother of the Zakarpattia SSU head, Tetyana Kononenko. Each is 80 square meters. She received them as inheritance from her husband – the SSU official’s father Vasyl Kononenko, who died in 2024.

He began acquiring real estate here at the beginning of 2022. Judging by advertisements from that period, the market value of the property could have been about 3.1 million hryvnias, i.e. approximately 110 thousand dollars.

Real estate sale advertisement on KM “Palaris” Instagram, January 2022

Another seven townhouses in the “Palaris” cottage community were acquired by Serhiy Kononenko’s mother-in-law and father-in-law – Anatolii and Nina Brekhunets.

They began buying this real estate in November 2021, purchasing two land plots with already built houses: two townhouses of 75 square meters each. 

Google Earth satellite image, October 2021

Another five plots were purchased in December 2022 – likewise when the townhouses were already built. Their area ranges from 83 to 94 square meters.

Google Earth satellite image, July 2022

Judging by sale advertisements in the same cottage community – both in the second half of 2021 and in the second half of 2022 – the price per square meter started at approximately 500 dollars. According to our calculations, the value of such an investment should have been about 300 thousand dollars.

Officially, the family paid about 88 thousand hryvnias for the land plots, most of which already had houses built on them. After that, Kononenko family members commissioned the townhouses themselves.

“Very often, so to speak, a scheme is used where responsibility is divided among all relatives. It was not only the official’s father who bought, but also the mother-in-law, father-in-law and brother-in-law – this may also confirm that the real owner of these townhouses could actually have been the official himself,” suggested Serhiy Mytkalyk, head of the board of the “Anti-Corruption Headquarters” NGO. 

As of the end of June 2026, the family had sold six of the 23 townhouses.

Kononenko’s connection with the cottage communities 

The cottage communities Dream House and “Palaris” themselves, where the SSU official Serhiy Kononenko’s relatives acquired real estate, are linked to the family of Boryspil businessmen – brothers Dmytro and Oleksandr Hnatko. According to Bihus.Info, in 2015 they were involved in illegal construction on the Pereiaslav dam.

In particular, journalists found that Oleksandr Hnatko’s father-in-law and mother-in-law – Mykhailo and Nataliya Udovenko – are founders of the service cooperatives of these communities.

Information from the YouControl analytical system 

Also, Oleksandr Hnatko’s wife, Maryna, owns part of the properties in both communities.

Journalists gained access to the hidden declarations of SSU top official Serhiy Kononenko during his work at the State Fiscal Service.

Analysis of the documents indicates that the current head of the Zakarpattia SSU had connections with the Boryspil businessmen long before his relatives began acquiring real estate in the cottage communities linked to them.

Back in 2009, Kononenko and the Hnatkos became co-owners of a house in Chernihiv Oblast. 

Information from Serhiy Kononenko’s declarations

Moreover, since 2019 and to this day they also jointly own a land plot.

Information from Serhiy Kononenko’s declarations

Journalists tried to ask Oleksandr Hnatko about his connections with Serhiy Kononenko and the origin of the real estate in the Dream House and “Palaris” cottage communities at such a favorable price. Hnatko confirmed that he knows Kononenko, but upon hearing the question about the property, he immediately hung up. 

Offices worth a million dollars

The Platinum office center is located in the center of Boryspil. Two commercial buildings where a wide variety of businesses operate today – from beauty salons and massage parlors to a gym, travel agency and coffee shop.

Platinum office center

The office center is registered to the company “Boryspilspebservice”. Today its owner is Serhiy Kononenko’s mother Tetyana, and its director is the already mentioned sister of the official, Olha Maslenko. According to our calculations, the market value of the real estate registered to this company may reach about one million dollars.

Platinum office center

The company “Boryspilspebservice” was founded in 2018 by Serhiy Starovoit. Almost immediately it began buying commercial real estate.

Serhiy Starovoit founded “Boryspilspebservice”, YouControl

During 2018-2019 the company acquired two premises in a shopping complex in the center of Boryspil with an area of 385 and 823 square meters. Their official value was about 330 thousand dollars.

Later the company built another building – Platinum-1 – with an area of 669 square meters. 

Extract from the State Register of Property Rights to Real Estate 

Satellite images show that by autumn 2021 the building was already constructed. At the same time, the building was erected no later than June of the same year.

Google Earth satellite image, October 2021

And it was during this period that the company changed owner. At the end of April 2021 “Boryspilspebservice” passed to Serhiy Kononenko’s father – Vasyl.

Information from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities

An open question: under what conditions did the SBU official’s relative receive a company that already owned commercial real estate worth at least 330 thousand dollars? And this is the amount without taking into account the newly built building of the shopping center with an area of 669 square meters. 

The value of the Platinum 1 building is quite difficult to assess. Currently, similar commercial properties without renovation in Boryspil cost about one thousand dollars per square meter.

Advertisement for the sale of commercial real estate in Boryspil

Thus, the market value of such real estate today may start from 670 thousand dollars. At the same time, realtor Oleksiy Hnuchykh notes that in 2021 the price could have been even higher. 

“In 2021 there were many more buyers – business was much more active. Accordingly, the greater the demand – the higher the price. Now demand is not as high as in 2021. I think that 650-700 thousand dollars is approximately its real market value,” Hnuchykh noted.

Estate on the banks of the Dnipro 

In October 2022, the SSU official’s father Vasyl Kononenko purchased a land plot on which a house now stands on the banks of the Dnipro. The residence is not in the real estate register. The estate is located near the elite “Zoloche” cottage community near Kyiv.

Estate on the land plot of Serhiy Kononenko’s mother

According to satellite images, a year earlier, in October 2021, the house was already almost built – although there was no roof

Google Earth satellite image, October 2021

In 2025 the land plot was inherited from the official’s father by his mother Tetyana. Currently the land belongs to her, and the house itself has still not been commissioned. The area around the residence has not yet been landscaped, but the foundation for a swimming pool has already been poured. 

Architect Oleh Hrechukh estimated the cost of building this house at at least 100 thousand dollars.

“The approximate area [of the house – ed.] may be in the range from 150 to 200 square meters, there are terraces, there is a carport. Even by a minimum calculation for such an area even with the cheapest, most affordable materials – the price can be from 100 thousand and more. It can be 120 or 200 thousand. It depends on what price category of materials is chosen and what technologies are applied.”

Activities of the SSU official’s family 

The market value of the real estate objects we listed, owned by the SSU official’s relatives, may amount to from 2 million dollars. But could they have had the funds for this property?

We managed to find out that the official’s sister, Olha Maslenko, worked as a car sales manager. Her husband Maksym currently works as head of the sales department at a Renault dealership in the “NIKO” network. We tried to speak with them, but upon hearing that journalists were calling, Mr. Maslenko immediately hung up.

NIKO dealership network website

The official’s father-in-law, Anatoliy Brekhunets, works as head of the training department at Skovoroda University in Pereiaslav. The mother-in-law, Nina Brekhunets, also works at the same university.

Anatoliy Brekhunets works as a lecturer

Kononenko’s mother, Tetyana, is already of retirement age. But in the past she had an individual entrepreneur status, with the main activity being retail trade in bread and confectionery. The woman ceased her entrepreneurial activity back in 2017.

Information from the YouControl analytical system

Kononenko’s father also had an individual entrepreneur status – in retail trade of food products, beverages and tobacco products. In 2018 he officially ceased activity.

Information from the YouControl analytical system 

It seems that the parents of the SSU officer ran their business in a store in the small town of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi in the Kyiv region. The store premises and the land plot under it still belong to Kononenko’s mother.

 Store in the city of Pereyaslav

The father was also one of the founders of the company “LLC “LOGIST-SYSTEM””, which existed from 2008 to 2011. The analytical system YouControl does not show any income of this company. 

The Security Service did not answer questions about the origin of the funds for this property, but noted that the official’s father was an entrepreneur:  

“The father of the employee […] from 1966 until his death carried out active entrepreneurial activity. In particular, he was registered as an individual entrepreneur and also founded a number of business entities.”

The SSU also added that the official’s brother-in-law, Maksym Maslenko, “holds the position of top manager in one of the companies operating in the field of automobile dealership.”

SSU response to media inquiry

At the same time, the journalists’ questions about how much the townhouses in the cottage villages actually cost were ignored by the SSU. The same applies to questions about the terms under which the SSU official’s father became the owner of the company that holds an office center in Boryspil on its balance sheet.