Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) plays an important role in protecting the country during the war. The White Wolf unit of Alpha alone destroyed more than 800 pieces of Russian equipment during the two years of the full-scale invasion. While some risk their lives in combat with the enemy, the families of other employees are settling into luxury real estate in the Ukrainian capital.
Illya Vitiuk helms the powerful Cyber Security Department of the SBU. On March 25th, marking the SBU’s anniversary, Vitiuk’s service was lauded – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy elevated him to the rank of brigadier general. However, it appears no scrutiny was directed at the newly minted general’s opulent lifestyle before commemorating his work for the nation.
Slidstvo.Info journalists investigated in detail the wealth of the wife and mother of the country’s chief cyber intelligence officer and found that his family owns real estate worth at least UAH 25.5 million ($656,671) at market value. The video has English subtitles.
A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR
This photo shows Vitiuk with his wife Yulia.
Illya Vitiuk with his wife Yulia
During the full-scale invasion, she became the owner of an apartment in a premium residential building in the center of Kyiv.
Elite residential complex in the Pecherskyi district of Kyiv / Photo: lunstatic.net
The complex is located in the Pecherskyi district. Among its advantages are open-plan layouts, kitchen-dining rooms of 30 square meters or more, soundproofed apartments, luxurious rooms with panoramic windows — 6 meters wide — and fantastic views of the Botanical Garden and the Dnipro River.
Yulia Vitiuk bought a 195-square-meter apartment in December 2023.
Extract from the State Register of Property Rights
A renovated apartment of this size in this residential complex can cost almost $1.5 million.
Screenshot from a real estate website
On real estate websites, apartments without renovation in this residential complex cost about $3,000 per square meter, which is almost three times the average price in the capital.
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- Screenshot from a real estate website
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- Screenshot from a real estate website
It’s easy to calculate that Yulia Vitiuk had to pay $585,000 for her apartment without renovation. Or UAH 21.5 million at the exchange rate at the time of purchase.
The official document, Vitiuk’s declaration, states that this apartment was purchased for UAH 12.8 million ($330,069).
Screenshot from Illya Vitiuk’s declaration for 2023
That is, the price indicated in the declaration is almost half the market price. Without disclosing who exactly they were talking about, journalists asked an expert what consequences could be caused by the undervaluation of property by officials.
“If the cost at which the apartment was actually purchased differs from the one indicated in the declaration (i.e., the person has declared the value of their assets inaccurately), this may be grounds for bringing them to criminal liability under part two of the article on false declaration. This is a large amount of information that differs from the true information, and in this case, [this person] faces a sentence of up to two years in prison,” says Pavlo Demchuk, legal advisor at Transparency International Ukraine.
WHERE DID THE MONEY FOR THE LUXURY REAL ESTATE COME FROM?
The editorial office has Illya Vitiuk’s declaration, which he published in March, but on the day the investigation was published, it disappeared from the NACP website. In 2021, his annual salary was just over UAH 700,000 ($25,660). At the time, the official worked as the head of one of the offices in the same department. Illya Vitiuk does not indicate his wife’s income in the document. He was appointed head of the department in November of the same year.
Six days before the full-scale invasion, Yulia Vitiuk registered as a sole proprietor. And in just over 10 months of 2022, she managed to earn almost UAH 9.5 million ($291,054).
2023 was another successful year for the newly registered sole proprietor, with more than UAH 13 million ($346,852) in earnings. This means that her monthly income is over 1 million hryvnias ($26,681).
The main activity of the private entrepreneurship of the wife of a top SBU officer is in the field of law.
Data on sole proprietorship of Yulia Vitiuk in the YouControl system
However, there is no publicly available information about her clients or what services she provides.
Slidstvo.Info called Yulia Vitiuk to find out about her business, which allowed her to buy luxury real estate in the center of Kyiv. She refused to discuss this topic.
The question arises: are Ms. Vitiuk’s high earnings (over 1 million hryvnias per month) not related to her husband’s work? In addition, such sudden and large profits of the official’s wife may attract the attention of law enforcement.
“This may be one of the schemes of undue advantage, when the official does not personally receive anything, but his close person does. In the course of the pre-trial investigation, the facts can be checked: whether it was actually from entrepreneurial activities. If a person provides certain business services, he or she has documents — what services were provided, to whom, and how the payment was made. All of this will be evident from tax records and banking information, which can be accessed by law enforcement agencies in the course of the investigation. And this will be their task: to check whether it was really an entrepreneurial activity or a disguise of illegal income,” says Pavlo Demchuk, legal advisor at Transparency International Ukraine.
DOCTOR MOTHER AND HER REAL ESTATE IN THE CAPITAL
On the other hand, Illya Vitiuk’s mother, Natalia, unlike his wife, is not involved in business.
However, in addition to real estate in Ternopil and Brovary, the woman also owns plenty of square meters in residential complexes in the capital.
The first apartment is located right on the Dnipro embankment. It offers a view of the sprawling banks of the Dnipro River.
Natalia Vitiuk bought a two-room apartment of 85 square meters in a residential complex on the left bank of Kyiv in 2013. Today, the price of a similar one on the market is $177,000.
According to the declarations of the SBU official, this is where Vitiuk and her family lived in 2021 and 2022.
If she gets tired of living on the left bank, Vitiuk’s mother has another option — housing in a cozy park complex almost in the center of Kyiv.
The second home is not as spacious, but it is also quite pricey. 50 square meters in this residential complex can cost $100,000.
The total value of just the Kyiv apartments belonging to his mother is nearly a third of $1 million. Or more than 4 million hryvnias, if calculated at the exchange rate at the time of purchase.
A Slidstvo.info journalist called the mother of the SBU official to ask about the real estate she had purchased.
Journalist: Where did you get the money to buy this property, which is a two-room apartment on the left bank?
Natalia Vitiuk: I’m at work, I can’t discuss it now.
J: When can we talk to you?
NV: I don’t know, maybe after work, at 6 or 7 p.m., if I have to discuss this with you at all. Okay? Call me back.
J: It won’t take long, just about five minutes.
NV: Look, I’m at work. I can’t discuss such things. Do I have to discuss such things on the phone?
J: And what do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?
NV: I work as a doctor, I’m examining a patient right now, and I’m not going to discuss anything with you right now.
Natalia Vitiuk did not answer further calls.
WHAT DOES THE SBU SAY?
Ilya Vitiuk himself did not get in touch with the Slidstvo.info editorial office. So the journalists sent an official request to the Security Service of Ukraine with a list of detailed questions about the official’s property status.
“Mr. Vitiuk’s wife is a private entrepreneur whose income and savings allowed her to purchase the property in question. At the same time, his mother is a well-known medical specialist who has held positions in both public and private medical institutions. These incomes and her own savings allowed her to invest in her own real estate,” the SBU said in response to a request from Slidstvo.info.
The SBU ignored the journalist’s questions about what kind of business the official’s wife is engaged in and how she managed to buy an apartment in a premium residential complex at a price almost half the market price. So were questions about the cost of the chief cyberintelligence officer’s mother’s apartment.
The bottom line is that Vitiuk’s wife and mother alone own real estate worth at least UAH 25.5 million ($657,559) at market value. The family’s income grew along with Illya Vitiuk’s career. After receiving a higher position, his wife began to make significant money and acquired luxury real estate.
The question remains open: will the recently awarded rank of brigadier general of the SBU also impact the well-being of the Vitiuk family?
