Ukroboronprom lied NikVesti about the competition for director «Zoria»

The state-owned company «Ukrainian Defence Industry» (Ukroboronprom) has announced that it is not holding a competition for the position of director of the «Zoria»-«Mashproekt» enterprise in Mykolaiv, despite the fact that at the same time it announced a competition on one of its recruitment sites.

In early September, the editorial board of the online media outlet NikVesti sent an information request to Ukroboronprom regarding the competition for the position of general director of JSC «Zoria»-«Mashproekt» in Mykolaiv.

On 12 September, the state-owned company reported that during the period of martial law, no competitive selection of managers, heads of executive bodies and members of supervisory boards of public sector entities was conducted.

«Given that JSC «NPKG «Zoria»-«Mashproekt» is a public sector entity, no competitive selection of the company's managers was conducted», reads the response to the request signed by Iryna Vannikova, Head of Communications at Ukroboronprom.

At the same time, an announcement about a competition for the position of CEO of the state concern's enterprise was published on the vacancies website.

«We are looking for a highly qualified and responsible CEO who has deep knowledge of management, economics and relevant industries. If you have an impeccable reputation, significant management experience and are committed to development and success, we invite you to apply at», the announcement reads.

According to information NikVesti from one of the participants in this competition, it is specifically about the search for candidates for the position of director of Mykolaiv's «Zoria».

The vacancy website lists the responsibilities of the position as follows: general management of the enterprise and strategic development; development and implementation of complex projects to upgrade the production facilities, application of innovative technological solutions; organisation of production processes; interaction with government agencies, negotiations with local and international partners.

The candidate must have at least 5 years of managerial experience in senior positions in industrial production, a complete higher education in a relevant speciality, preferably Upper Intermediate (B2) English, and other qualifications.

CVs could be submitted until 12 September. In other words, the state-owned company «Ukroboronprom», headed by former Minister of Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin, officially provided false information to journalists.

Initially, the competition was scheduled to take place on 18 September, but it was postponed to today, 25 September, according to a source NikVesti.

Among the candidates for the post of CEO of the state-owned enterprise is the current head of «Zoria» Oleksii Tsymbal. In May, it became known that he had been appointed acting director general of the enterprise. Oleksii Tsymbal was a deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council in 2010-2015 from the «Party of Regions» and was involved in criminal cases while working at the Sumy Machine-Building Plant. This enterprise was controlled by businessman Kostiantyn Hryhoryshyn, who was sanctioned by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in early 2025.

Who is Oleksii Tsymbal?

Oleksii Tsymbal was born in Mykolaiv on 1 October 1971, graduated from the Mykolaiv Shipbuilding Institute (now Admiral Makarov National University of Ukraine) with a degree in «Economics and Management in Mechanical Engineering». In 1994, he started working as an economist at the foundry «Zoria».

In 2010, Oleksii Tsymbal became a deputy of Mykolaiv City Council from the «Party of Regions» in the Inhul district. According to the civic movement «CHESNO», he missed 96% of the city council meetings during his term. At the time, he explained his absence at the sessions by working in Sumy.

It is known that from 2011 to 2019, Oleksii Tsymbal was the CEO of PJSC «Sumy Frunze Research and Production Association» (now «Sumy Machine-Building Research and Production Association»). This is one of the largest machine-building complexes in Ukraine and Europe producing equipment for the oil, gas, nuclear and chemical industries, and until 2014, 70% of the company's exports went to Russia, according to Oleksii Tsymbal.

Oleksii Tsymbal became a defendant in nine criminal cases, one of which concerned the non-payment of salaries to the plant's employees totalling about 100 million hryvnias for the period of work in 2017.

He was charged with two articles of the Criminal Code: «failure to comply with a court decision committed by an official» and «unjustified non-payment of wages committed intentionally by the head of the enterprise».

In 2021, when choosing a preventive measure in court, the prosecutor's office insisted on house arrest with the wearing of an electronic bracelet and the surrender of the passport for Oleksii Tsymbal. At the same time, the court also seized Oleksii Tsymbal's property in Mykolaiv.

«In order to avoid liability for the criminal offence, Tsymbal may continue to hide from the pre-trial investigation and court. He owns a significant amount of property both in Ukraine and abroad, has documents granting him the right to travel abroad and can use them to hide from the court. Currently, he does not live at his place of registration, constantly changing his place of actual residence. Tsymbal can influence witnesses and victims by making threats, persuade them to change their testimony», «Suspilne» quoted the words of the prosecutor of the Sumy Prosecutor's Office Oleksandr Hanzhal. The court then released Oleksii Tsymbal on his own recognizance.

In February 2025, the Zarichnyi District Court of Sumy ruled to close the proceedings against Oleksii Tsymbal due to the expiry of the statute of limitations for bringing him to criminal responsibility.

According to the declaration, in 2024, Oleksii Tsymbal received an income of 2 million 11 thousand hryvnias at the state-owned enterprise «Zoria»-«Mashproekt», which is an average of about 167 thousand hryvnias per month. Last year, his wife Ruzhyna became the owner of a 2021 KIA NIRO, and Oleksii Tsymbal himself owns a 2020 LEXUS RX300. In addition to his home in Mykolaiv, Oleksii Tsymbal has owned an apartment in Spain since 2015, for which he is still paying the mortgage. His wife bought a house in the village of Hatne near Kyiv in 2021.

Embezzlement on «Zoria»

In September 2023, the NABU and SAPO served suspicion not ices to four former CEOs of the «Zoria»-«Mashproekt» plant and one entrepreneur of embezzling 1.32 billion hryvnias. The investigation found that the management of the plant «Zoria»-«Mashproekt», which exported its own products abroad, organised a scheme to misappropriate the state-owned enterprise's funds. To do this, a number of agency agreements were concluded with a non-resident company, under which it was supposed to provide services for finding and negotiating with potential buyers of the state-owned enterprise's products to conclude relevant foreign economic contracts with them.

In January 2024, the former CEO of the state-owned enterprise «Research and Production Complex for Gas Turbine Construction «Zoria»-«Mashproekt», Konstantin Kartoshkin, had his bail reduced by 1 million hryvnias.

In May 2024, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court dismissed for the second time the appeal against the notice of suspicion served on the former CEO of the state-owned enterprise «Gas Turbine Research and Production Complex «Zorya»-«Mashproekt» Andrii Khomenko.