Promises, absences and exemption from mobilization: what ex-minister and former MP Vitaliy Koval will be remembered for

In June 2026, the Rivne City Council stripped Vitaliy Koval — former head of the Rivne Regional State Administration and former Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine — of his deputy mandate. Despite the politician’s statements that this was “not a farewell to the city,” statistics on his actual work point to the opposite.

This is stated in an investigation by the outlet “Fourth Power.”

From big promises to an empty seat

In 2020, Rivne was covered with billboards featuring the face of then-head of the Rivne Regional State Administration Vitaliy Koval. The political force “Servant of the People,” whose faction he later headed in the city council, ran in the local elections with loud slogans about a “dream country” and promises of radical change.

In its official election program, the party promised Rivne residents “radical changes”:

open competitions for positions, decisions made exclusively in the interests of the community, and a mechanism for recalling deputies who had lost public trust;

deputies’ reports on the work they had done;

attracting foreign investment, improving the investment climate, strict quality control of road repairs, etc.

Koval himself, running not only for a deputy seat but also for mayor, promised to turn Rivne into a major logistics and economic hub.

The residents of Rivne did not believe the promises — Koval did not get the mayor’s chair. Although he came third in the number of votes. Instead, he managed to enter the Rivne City Council as a deputy. He was first on the list and later headed the “Servant of the People” faction. However, he later traded the status of the city’s chief “servant” for career ambitions in the capital, while becoming one of the biggest absentee deputies in the Rivne City Council.

Capital rises and falls

In November 2023, Vitaliy Koval was appointed head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine. Almost a year later — in September 2024 — he became Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food.

However, Koval did not manage to “stay in the saddle” for long. First, a loud scandal erupted around the official over his mother-in-law’s luxury apartment in Kyiv, where the minister and his family lived, and later the ministry itself was liquidated.

From January to July 2025, Koval managed to receive UAH 840,932 in ministerial salary. And he was left without a government job. Vitaliy Koval was not offered a new position in the executive branch.

Koval’s chronic absenteeism

In response to our request, the Rivne City Council provided data on how many sessions and committee meetings Vitaliy Koval attended from 2021 until June 4, 2026.

According to the data, Koval missed 56% of the plenary sessions of the Rivne City Council.

He also almost never attended meetings of the standing committee on healthcare in 2021–2023, when he was still working in Rivne.

The regulations of the Rivne City Council allow deputies to join committee meetings remotely — online. He did not use this option.

Ultimately, on June 4, 2026, deputies of the Rivne City Council voted to allow Vitaliy Koval to resign his deputy mandate.

He also did not appear at that session. He only posted on Facebook about the decision:

“Resigning the mandate is not a farewell to the city. Rivne was, is, and will remain an important part of my life.”

Billions “from the president”

In his first annual report, Koval noted that combining the mandate with the position of head of the Rivne Regional State Administration was for him “inseparable concepts.” He cited as his main achievement during this period the attraction of UAH 1 billion 71 million from the state budget for the construction of facilities in the regional center.

At the same time, the deputy separately emphasized: “I thank the President of Ukraine for his understanding and support, because this is the first time in the entire history of independence that the city has received such a large amount of state funds.”

Among the key facilities that Koval attributed to his merits in 2021 were:

UAH 85 million — for a kindergarten on Konovalets Street (it is still unfinished. — Ed.);

UAH 100 million — for the reconstruction of Avangard Stadium (still unfinished. — Ed.);

UAH 172 million — for the reconstruction of Rivne International Airport;

UAH 69 million — for the construction of a sports complex on Makarova Street (still unfinished. — Ed.);

UAH 580 million — for the construction of the Northern Bypass of Rivne (partially built. — Ed.).

The deputy also mentioned the allocation of more than UAH 2 million from the regional budget for energy efficiency of apartment buildings and the attraction of funds for medical equipment for the Central City Hospital.

In reports for the wartime years 2022, 2023, and 2024, Vitaliy Koval almost completely switched to large-scale regional topics, such as the construction of fortifications near the border with Belarus, business relocation, construction of shelters, and support for the agricultural sector.

There is little mention of Rivne’s own problems in these materials.

“The format of work was different”

The most telling, in our opinion, is the final “Deputy’s Report for 2025” by Vitaliy Koval, which he submitted before resigning his mandate. In this document, the former minister essentially admits in plain text that he ignored city council sessions and tries to justify it.

“My activity in 2025 combined deputy powers with the performance of tasks at the state level, so the format of work differed from the standard schedule of constant presence at plenary sessions,” the text of Koval’s report states.

Vitaliy Koval explains his absence from the session hall by claiming that he supposedly kept the city’s issues in focus “through coordinating the work of the faction” and “interacting with partners and government bodies.”

He reduced his activity as head of the “Servant of the People” faction in 2025 to general phrases about “ensuring coordinated team work of deputies” and “supporting decisions needed for the city’s functioning in wartime conditions.”

Instead of real work at sessions in Rivne, Koval boasted in his report about “representing the community’s interests at a broader level.”

Former minister in the “defense sector”: new job and reserved advisor

According to the analytical system “YouControl,” on December 12, 2025, Vitaliy Koval registered as an individual entrepreneur with the main activity “consulting on commercial activities.” In just half a month before the end of the year, he managed to earn UAH 313,484, and also received UAH 246,000 from renting out an apartment in Kyiv.

Koval also got a job at LLC “Scientific and Production Association ‘Ukrainian Defence Technologies’,” where he became advisor to the head and received UAH 176,000 in salary for 2025.

In response to a request from “Fourth Power,” the Rivne Regional Military Commissariat and Social Support Center reported that this enterprise had reserved Vitaliy Koval from mobilization for the period from January 24 to December 24, 2026.

The company, with capital in Zaporizhzhia and headed by former head of the state enterprise “Artillery Armament Design Bureau” Andriy Nestrelyay, is engaged in computer programming and has NACE codes for weapons production.

What exactly the former minister of agrarian policy “advises” remains a mystery, as there is no more detailed information about the company’s activities in open sources, and Koval once again ignored questions from “Fourth Power.”

According to data from the latest declaration — after resigning the mandate — Vitaliy Koval also became an advisor to the construction company “Life-Bud” on a part-time basis in 2026.

The company’s main activity is the production of building metal structures and parts of structures. However, the company has 27 other types of activities. According to financial statements for March 2026, the company had 225 employees. It also has a website with advice on energy efficiency.

According to data from the analytical system “YouControl,” the construction company “Life-Bud” actively participates in public procurement. In 2026, the company had winning tenders worth more than UAH 396 million.

Court cases over luxury housing and millions in cash

It should be recalled that Vitaliy Koval’s family lives in a luxury Kyiv apartment of 170 square meters near Holosiivskyi Park. The housing is officially registered to Koval’s mother-in-law, Halyna Baranyuk, who allegedly purchased it in 2021. In May 2025, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) filed a lawsuit with the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) demanding the confiscation of this asset or the recovery of UAH 9.3 million to the state.

Koval tried through the Rivne District Administrative Court to have the monitoring of his lifestyle conducted by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention declared illegal; this monitoring formed the basis of the SAPO lawsuit. However, on March 31, 2026, the court closed the proceedings.

The hearings at the HACC regarding the confiscation of the asset are still ongoing; the next hearing is scheduled for July 13.

According to the latest declaration, the former minister’s family has savings. Vitaliy Koval holds UAH 205,000, USD 25,000, and EUR 19,000 in cash.

His wife Kseniya, who works in design and earned more than UAH 5 million in 2025, has UAH 160,000, EUR 20,000, and USD 195,000 in cash.

Koval has been declaring a million in cash since his time working at the Rivne Regional State Administration, although since 2012 his property has been under arrest due to old debts.