Houses, "golden" lands and dubious ties of Avanhard village head Serhiy Khrustovskyi

A plot with three houses and two outbuildings. Almost two hectares of land in a promising area opposite the water park. Another plot in a gardening cooperative with access to the estuary. This property was acquired by the head of the Avanhard village council in the Odesa region, Serhiy Khrustovskyi, who has been in office for 16 years.

The Avanhard community is one of the wealthiest in Odesa region. This is primarily because it is home to Ukraine’s most famous market, the “7th Kilometer.” In one interview, Serhiy Khrustovskyi openly stated that the market’s founder, Viktor Dobryanskyi, had been his role model and wise mentor. The market has been linked to such high-profile names as the once-influential Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, “the king of smuggling” Vadym Alperin, and Odessa’s so-called “boss,” Volodymyr Galanternik. In 2023, under mysterious circumstances, the founder’s grandson Viktor Dobrianskyi Jr. died. His body was found on the “Health Trail” in Odesa.

Serhiy Khrustovskyi is originally from Vinnytsia region, where he worked in law enforcement. He later moved to Odesa region and began working as a lawyer for one of Dobrianskyi’s companies. By 2018, when Khrustovskyi had already been heading the village for eight years, his wife was employed at LLC “Avanhard-D.” This is Dobryanskyi’s company, now managed by his relative Viktoriya. The firm operates in the agricultural sector.

Over the past decade and a half, the Khrustovskyi family has managed to accumulate a substantial dowry for his two daughters. Journalists located the house where the village head lives. According to his declaration, he supposedly owns only one house in Avanhard, with an area of 196 square meters, along with the plot beneath it. In reality, however, the plot clearly shows the main house, two slightly smaller ones, and two more buildings resembling outbuildings. By declaring ownership of only one building in his financial report, he is misleading anti-corruption authorities, since it is obvious to the naked eye that there are more structures.

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In 2018, Khrustovskyi’s wife Yuliya became the owner of nearly two hectares of land in the neighboring village of Prylymanske. The area is relatively new, and land privatization there has only recently begun.

The location is indeed promising, as the Avanhard water park is located directly opposite. Incidentally, the park was built by a company close to the aforementioned Volodymyr Halanternyk. In 2021, he acknowledged owning a stake in the “7th Kilometer” market. That same year, he was placed on a wanted list. Initially, media reported that he had settled in London, and later that he had moved to Vienna. Halanternyk is a figure in the case involving former Odesa mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, who has since been stripped of Ukrainian citizenship.

The two hectares belonging to the Khrustovskyi family are currently empty. Their neighbors, however, turned out to be very interesting people. For example, the adjacent plot of roughly the same size belongs to Nataliya Halchynska. She is the director of the Municipal Institution “Center for Social Services of the Avanhard Village Council,” meaning she is a subordinate of Serhiy Khrustovskyi.

Another neighbor is Vadym Kozachok. He is a member of the Avanhard Village Council executive committee — yet another subordinate of Khrustovskyi.

The third neighbor is Oleksiy Stadnyk. He previously headed the State Land Committee department in the Ovidiopol district of Odesa region. Stadnyk is a defendant in a criminal case concerning the squandering of state lands. Investigators suspect that, together with accomplices, he helped remove 10 hectares of the “Tairove” farm from state ownership. The case is still being heard by the Supreme Court.

In effect, Khrustovskyi, together with his colleagues and a high-level corrupt official, privatized two hectares of promising land each.

Two large plots to the right of the village head’s land are leased by LLC “Avanhard-D,” owned by the family of a co-founder of the “7th Kilometer” market, and LLC “Avanhard Podillya.” The latter company leases a large amount of land in the Avanhard community.

In particular, at the end of 2023, the company extended its lease of 3.5 hectares almost directly opposite the land in Prylymanske owned by the Khrustovskyi family, near the water park. The owner of this plot is Yaroslav Toptey. He worked in the capital construction department of the Avanhard Village Council, headed by Khrustovskyi’s long-time associate Artem Syritka.

Toptei is also the owner of a plot in the very center of Avanhard, next to the church.

A little further away in Odesa region, the Khrustovskyi family owns another plot. It is small — about 20 ares — but located in a very “fat” spot. It is in a gardening society belonging to the village of Kalahliia in the Ovidiopol district. Nearby is access to the Dniester Estuary; on the other side stands the Akkerman Fortress of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi.

In Kalahliya, the Khrustovskyi family also owns another 6-ares plot, and another 9 ares in the village of Bilka, located on the Khadzhibei Estuary. However, these could not be identified.

Media have repeatedly reported that with Serhiy Khrustovskyi’s arrival as village head, mass construction of residential complexes began in Avanhard. One example is the new “7 Nebo” quarter, whose developer company has been linked to “the king of smuggling” Vadym Alperin.

The company in question is “Grad Invest Plus.” In 2025, proceedings were opened against it for non-payment of share contributions to the Avanhard community. The company claims it is not obliged to pay these contributions because it built an educational facility next to the residential complex. In March 2026, the court ordered an expert examination to determine whether “Grad Invest Plus” must pay the share contributions and how much the Avanhard budget may have lost due to this alleged evasion scheme.

Serhiy Khrustovskyi tries to present himself as a rather modest person concerned only with the development of the Avanhard community. However, the houses, land, his own people in power, and permits for construction companies with a dubious reputation suggest that still waters run deep. While he gives complimentary interviews and appears at various forums, his family is quietly accumulating considerable property.