"Crown" and a wrecked Skoda: how Dmytro Buchenko turns the strategic department of the BES into a private fiefdom

"Crown" and a wrecked Skoda: how Dmytro Buchenko turns the strategic department of the BES into a private fiefdom

Certification of the ESBU: Who and why Appointed Dmytro Buchenko as Head of the Department of Strategic Economic Protection.

The appointment of Dmytro Anatoliyovych Buchenko as the acting director of the Department of Strategic Economic Protection of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine  vividly demonstrates how the BES personnel policy repeats the worst traditions of the old militia-police system. Buchenko, a former member of the CID/DID, is a typical representative of the enforcement bloc, whose activities are focused not on investigation but on control and pressure. Age — around 35 years. Behavior — self-confident, openly aggressive, with a clear sense of impunity, as reported by VIY.Ukraine.

Before joining the BES, Buchenko headed the DID of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Poltava region. This period ended predictably: with a conflict with the regional Main Directorate leadership, complaints from businesses about systematic extortion, and, ultimately, his effective ousting from the position. According to former colleagues and entrepreneurs, his working methods were primitive and straightforward: «pay, subscribe to the monthly fee — or expect administrative pressure.» Not only criminal cases but also operational and investigative measures were sold. Teamwork was nonexistent — only personal «coronation» and reliance on patrons.

In the BES, this approach has not changed but has only scaled up. Already in the role of acting director of the department, Buchenko has displayed a management style more akin to toxic pressure than professional leadership. At the end of December 2025, he was allocated a new official car, a Skoda Octavia. On December 31, during non-working hours at 19:00, the car was handed over to his acquaintance for a trip to a corporate event, resulting in an accident that completely totaled the vehicle. There are injured parties, the accident was officially recorded, and the car is still parked awaiting major repairs at the expense of public funds. Within the agency, the incident was effectively hushed up.

Against the backdrop of an acute shortage of personnel and public statements by BES leadership about a lack of staff, Buchenko’s department has seen a mass exodus of employees. From December 2025 to January 2026, 16 people resigned, including department heads. At least 5 more employees plan to leave in February. Some of those who remain are awaiting transfers to other structures or retirement, just to avoid working under a leader who acts emotionally, vindictively, and views the department solely as a tool for personal career advancement. Excuses about low salaries are invalid: the pay level at BES is one of the highest among law enforcement agencies.

The main issue is professional activity. The shadow turnover of excisable goods and the gambling business are declared as priority areas of BES’s work. However, these are the very spheres Buchenko previously oversaw. Before his appointment to the central office, he managed the operational unit of the BES Territorial Directorate in Kyiv, where he controlled illegal gas stations, underground fuel producers, the alcohol industry, the gambling business, and certain schemes linked to the entourage of the Kyiv City Council and Kyiv City State Administration. The result is telling: none of the operational-investigative cases or criminal proceedings he was involved in reached a court verdict. There are no real results from his work. The only «realization» at the end of summer 2025 was a case against gambling business representatives, whom professional circles call his partners. The detective unit of the Kyiv Territorial Directorate essentially avoided contact with Buchenko, and case registrations were done bypassing him — through the central office.

A separate topic is the origin of his assets. Buchenko is trailed by numerous signs of illicit enrichment: premium-class cars such as Mercedes, Porsche Cayenne, Audi A6, and Lexus in top configurations, apartments in central Kyiv, two suburban houses in Kyiv region, and a land plot in Vyshhorod near the water, the history of which has already been the subject of public scandals. The source of these assets does not match his official income.