Billion-dollar losses and elite development of scientific lands: How the NAS of Ukraine operates under the leadership of Zahorodniy

Billion-dollar losses and elite development of scientific lands: How the NAS of Ukraine operates under the leadership of Zahorodniy

During Zahorodniy’s tenure, it has already made history with scandals spreading in the media. Audits by the State Audit Service and the Accounting Chamber recorded billions in losses, dubious investment deals, loss of state property, and the absence of transparent management.

This is reported by Stopkor.

However, on October 9 this year, the elections for the president of NASU will take place again. According to insider information, the candidates for this position are the current president Anatoliy Zahorodniy and a person also coming from the NASU system — Bohdan Danylyshyn. Therefore, these elections become more than a formality — they will determine whether the Academy gets a chance for a "restart" or remains a so-called symbol of decline and loss.

The Verkhovna Rada creates a TSC regarding NASU

As for the current and previous management of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, they have "worked" to the point that a draft resolution No. 14077 from September 26, 2025 has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to create a temporary investigative commission that should check the activities of a number of state structures, including the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

As a result, the structure that was supposed to be a symbol of the intellectual elite has turned into an example of corrupt practices. And this is an unprecedented step. For the first time in years of independence, Parliament is creating a TSC to investigate the activities of the Academy of Sciences. For an institution that was meant to be a symbol of the intellectual elite of the state, this is an outright reputational disaster.

But the reason for the investigation was not only the land and development scandals but also the financial imbalances within the structure itself. Thus, the creation of a TSC in Parliament is not only an attempt to give a political response to the scandals surrounding the Academy but also an opportunity to show society the scale of the problem: from the loss of state assets and land to social injustice in the financial support of scientists. In the scientific community, this is already called "a disgrace for the entire Academy": an institution that should have been a guarantor of Ukraine’s intellectual independence has turned into an example of corrupt practices and systemic inequality.

And now the TSC can become a sort of "moment of truth" for the Academy: either cleansing and reform will be carried out, or NASU will finally lose the trust of society.

Million-dollar incomes of NASU top officials against the backdrop of low scientists’ salaries

So while most scientists at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) essentially work for half a salary, enduring funding deficits and difficult research conditions, the academy’s management receives multi-million dollar incomes and has significant material assets.

A vivid example is Ella Libanova, a member of the NASU Presidium and director of the Institute of Demography. According to open data, her income is as follows:

from the NASU — 842,000 UAH; from the Institute of Demography (part-time) — 289,000 UAH; from the Institute of Economic and Legal Research, which is under her control as an academic secretary — 121,000 UAH; fees from the Institute of Demography — 377,000 UAH. Altogether this amounts to more than 1.6 million UAH income per year. And similar figures can be found in the declarations of other members of the Presidium.

So it’s probably not surprising that even during the war, Ms. Libanovamanaged to acquire another plot of land in 2023 and buy a second car HYUNDAI TUCSON 2023 for 1,641,800 UAH in 2024. Although she already owned a 2013 GMC SAVANA purchased in 2021 for 787,653 UAH.

And despite such expenses, Ella Libanova has almost two million in bank accounts, plus also cash in Ukrainian and foreign currency

NASU Rector Vyacheslav Bohdanov alsodeclared over 973,000 UAH income from NASU, also receiving 122,000 UAH from the Institute of Mechanics, and 132,087 UAH from the State Institution "Center for Assessment of Scientific Institutions and Scientific Support for Regional Development of NASU". And together over the year, he earned more than 1,200,000 UAH, with a monthly salary of around 102,000 UAH.

Vice Presidents Serhiy Pyrozhkov and Oleh Rafalskyi have incomes from NASU of about 980,000 UAH. Pyrozhkov additionally receives over 162,000 UAH from the Institute of Demography and 282,000 UAH from the Trade and Economic University, and also owns two apartments.

His wife Yuliya Tomina owns two cars, moreover, one of them TOYOTA CAMRY 2019 was purchased in July 2022 for 744,377 UAH. So at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, when everyone was donating to the Armed Forces, the scientist’s wife buys a car for over half a million.

Oleh Rafalskyi also received 450,000 UAH from the Institute of Political and Ethno-national Studies anddeclared over 100 land plots in Kirovohrad region with an area of half a village, if not the whole. And so it’s probably not surprising that his wife Antonina Rafalska is co-founder of Agro-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX "STEPAGRO".

Summing up all of Mr. Rafalskyi’s salaries, basic and part-time, it totals 1,607,590 UAH, monthly almost 134,000 UAH.

So it turns out that the NASU leadership concentrates significant financial and material benefits, including apartments, houses, land plots, and transport. Meanwhile, most scientists work on 0.2-0.5 rates, receiving meager earnings to support scientific activities. After all, the salary of an ordinary scientific employee in Ukraine is quite low. This was stated in an interview with RBC-Ukraine by Deputy Minister of Education and Science Denys Kurbatov:

"The average salary — about 12-15 thousand hryvnias. But there are different situations, different laboratories, institutes where there are many international grants, projects with businesses. There, the level of salaries may be significantly higher," he noted.

These imbalances underline a systemic problem of the academy: resources are distributed disproportionately, and real scientific work remains underfunded. The situation calls into question the effectiveness of management and the transparency of the academic institution at a time when Ukrainian science is fighting for survival and development.

Modest declaration and hidden luxury: how the President of NASU Zahorodniy "forgot" about the elite apartment

So, looking atthe annual declarationof Anatoliy Zahorodniy for 2024, it is seen that he has managed to acquire an apartment for over 5 million hryvnias.

But that’s not all. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the developer of the complex is the KSM-Group company of businessman Serhiy Kopystyr. This structure has been gaining access to lands under the jurisdiction of NASU for many years.

And the salary at NAS of Ukraine is — 860,206 hryvnias, at the same time at the Institute of Theoretical Physics named after M.M. Bogolyubov of NASU, the scientist also earned 163,374 hryvnias. And fees:

• Kiev Academic University — 16,430 hryvnias.
• Center for Assessment of Scientific Institutions of NASU — 106,000 hryvnias.
• Branch of targeted training of Taras Shevchenko National University at NASU) — 32,000 hryvnias.
• Pension — 277,960 hryvnias.
• Lifetime payment for the title of academician (NAS of Ukraine) — 61,344 hryvnias.
• Income from alienation of real estate (from Repetyi L.D.) — 1,569,780 hryvnias.

Andtogether— 3,086,094 hryvnias. Together with his wife Valentyna Zahorodnya, they have savings amounting to 323,463 hryvnias, 4,107 euros, 900 US dollars.

As we can see, only one salary with fees for Zahorodniy amounted to 1,178,010 hryvnias, which is 98,167 hryvnias.

"From ’Crystal Springs’ to Chabany: how academic land turned into a source of corruption

However, this is not the only scandal accompanying the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In 2024, the State Audit Service reportedon its official websitethat the National Academy of Sciences transferred 116 hectares of "golden" state land in Kyiv to private developers.

Audits showed that in 20 years, NASU concluded 44 investment agreements. Moreover, 20 of them were during 2020-2023, with Anatoliy Zahorodniy being the president of the academy.

As the publication"Tvoe Misto",notes, the first investment agreements which the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine concluded with private developers, looked quite attractive: in exchange for state land plots, developers had to transfer at least 10% of the area of the constructed objects to the Academy. Primarily — apartments for scientists who have been without their housing for years.

Over time, the conditions of the agreements deteriorated sharply. Already in 2023, under some agreements, NASU received only 2% of the residential area. This effectively means that state land in the capital is almost given away for nothing — without fulfilling obligations to scientists.

The State Audit Service states: many investment projects remain unrealized, and the promised apartments have not been transferred to the Academy. A telling example isthe residential complex ’Crystal Springs’.

According to the terms of the agreement, NASU was supposed to receive 7676.66 sq. m of housing (approximately 152 apartments). But even after 16 years of signing the contract, the Academy has not yet received the promised. Meanwhile, the construction of the last, 6th phase of the complex was completed in the third quarter of 2022.

Currently, the market price per square meter in this residential complex is from 46,000 per square meter. This means that the total amount of unfulfilled obligations to the Academy reaches hundreds of millions of hryvnias.

Golden pages: 7 million worth encyclopedias and dictionaries from the Academy of Sciences

But looking at the activities of NASU, includes not only land. Opening the registry of tenders, we see that during the war it is possible to spend millions on dictionaries and encyclopedias. And all this in 2025.

For example, in January 2025, there wasa purchase of Ukrainian language dictionaries for 3,100,000 hryvnias.

And at the same time Modern Ukraine Encyclopedias were purchased for 4,200,000 hryvnias.

It somehow seems strange when ordinary people raise money for drones, while NAS of Ukraine spends 7 million to purchase dictionaries and encyclopedias.

The Science of Losses: NASU audit revealed losses in billions

While Ukrainian science is fighting for survival in war conditions and chronic underfunding, an audit of the activities of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) for 2020-2023 revealed a picture of systematic inefficiency, leading to the potential loss of state assets worth billions of hryvnias. In four years, the Academy received over 21.4 billion hryvnias from the budget, but it turned out that a significant portion of these funds goes to maintain a structure that is unable to effectively manage either its finances or invaluable property.

The central focus of the auditors was the budget program 6541020 "Scientific and Organizational Activity of the NASU Presidium," which spent 512.2 million hryvnias over four years. So the auditors found that NASU failed to determine key performance indicators for its work. For example, one of the "products" of the Presidium’s activities is the number of adopted decrees. In 2021, the plan for this indicator was exceeded by 38.8%, and in 2022 it was not met, reaching only 82.5%. However, the audit draws the disappointing conclusion that the number of paper decisions did not affect the quality of management. They just exist, while state property remains unprotected.

The most egregious example of mismanagement is the situation with land plots. Of the 454 plots under NASU management, 50 still do not have the right of permanent use formalized. And out of 6239 buildings and structures, 1833 objects do not have formalized property rights. This creates enormous risks of losing state assets. Particularly shocking is the story that unfolded on the territory of the National Natural Park "Holosiivskyi." Two huge wooded areas "Teremky" with an area of over 91 hectares were supposed to be transferred from the Institute of Zoology named after I.I. Schmalhausen to the Institute of Evolutionary Ecology of NASU back in 2021.

The process dragged on for years. And now the "Teremky" ravine in Kyivfaces the threat of development

The plot area of 8.03 hectares (cadastral number 8000000000:79:719:0026) disappeared from the State Register of Property Rights. Its calculated value is 193.7 million hryvnias. Auditors directly point to the risk of its complete loss.

Ownership and rights to another 83-hectare plot (cadastral number 8000000000:79:713:0014) have not been clarified. This creates a risk of losing an asset worth 1.44 billion hryvnias.

Irony of fate: while the Academy loses protected lands, nearby, on 42 Akademika Glushkova Avenue, LLC "UKRINVEST" is actively constructing the giant residential complex ’Avenue 42’ on lands of the Institute of Mathematical Machines and Systems Problems of NASU. The value of the plots and assets transferred to the developer — at least 180.8 million hryvnias.

For 7 years, the institute has not agreed on what real estate share it will receive in return, even though according to the investment agreements, the preliminary allocation of areas was to be finalized with additional agreements within 30 days after approval of project documentation (i.e., by 25.07.2018). Instead, instead of apartments for scientists, the institute concluded 23 additional agreements, under which in future housing they received:

• Repair work (window and roof replacement) for 5.62 million UAH.
• Computer equipment for 1.15 million UAH.
• Cash funds for 1.02 million UAH.

In total, almost 7.8 million hryvnias were spent on current needs instead of housing. For this money, at today’s prices, one could obtain 187 square meters in a newly built house—or 5 one-room apartments for young scientists. The audit confirms: this is a persistent trend for NASU institutes—to trade square meters for repairs, cars, and salaries.

In 2021, the Presidium decided to liquidate the enterprise "Therapeutic and Preventive Complex ‘Feofaniya’" and transfer its assets to the Institute of Evolutionary Ecology. However, the liquidation commission was unable to conduct inventory and transfer. As a result, once renovated premises with medical equipment turned into ruins. Unique medical equipment, including devices like Cocon, medical jet, Boreal, and others, with an estimated value of at least 485,800 hryvnias, was lost.

On the lands of the State Motor Transport Enterprise (ATP NASU), 9 unauthorized constructions with a total area of over 1100 square meters were discovered. This is in Kyiv, where every piece of land is not only expensive but valuable. Moreover, these structures are not recorded on the balance sheet and have been leased to third parties. Additionally, the enterprise rented out premises under the guise of "responsible storage," including for a car wash and even for the residence of unknown persons.

Additionally, the Presidium of NASU, by not controlling the execution of its own decisions, effectively allowed the transfer of two important enterprises to the State Property Fund. “ALCON-TVERDOSPLAV” SE was transferred along with a building, leading to the loss of the asset. The Interdepartmental Scientific Center of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine, whose activities are extremely relevant to the state today, also transferred to the SPFU. Now the Academy writes letters to the Cabinet of Ministers requesting the return of the center.

As the financial audit shows, the Academy has been signing investment agreements for years for housing construction on its land. The goal was noble—the attraction of young scientists. However, the result is disappointing: out of 44 agreements signed, construction was completed for only 3. Most projects are frozen, and valuable lands have been removed from scientific circulation for years.

The audit conclusions paint a bleak picture: a huge state-funded structure financed by billions from taxpayers’ pockets turned out to be an inefficient manager. Instead of preserving and multiplying state property, the Presidium of NASU issues hundreds of orders, control over the execution of which is absent. As a result, Ukraine risks losing not only unique land plots but entire scientific complexes, the restoration of which will be impossible.

Thus, the story with Zahorodniy’s hidden real estate and NASU’s "golden" lands exposes a deep problem: at a time when the country is fighting for survival, state resources that should work for science and societal development turn into a source of profit for a narrow circle of officials and developers. Trust in the academic community is undermined every time when, instead of supporting scientists and military needs, focus shifts to multimillion-dollar apartments, opaque deals, and luxury carefully hidden in declarations.

The team of journalists sent inquiries regarding NASU activities under Zabolotniy to the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and NABU.

Thus, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, in response to the inquiry from the NGO "StopCor," informs that information on the grounds for initiation or progress of pre-trial investigation, as well as data on specific individuals, is part of the investigation secrecy and can only be disclosed with the permission of the investigator or prosecutor. NABU also notes that providing such information is not possible, but this does not imply confirmation or denial of the existence of criminal proceedings.