During his business trips abroad, the secretary of the Dnipro City Council, Oleksandr Sanzhara, takes to the skies in his declared 2002 Piper 28-161 Warrior aircraft.
Journalists from Slidstvo.Info, with the help of colleagues from OCCRP, found that the plane from Oleksandr Sanzhara’s declaration regularly flies around Europe. In recent years, these flights have coincided with foreign business trips sent by Sanzhara’s boss, Borys Filatov. In total, over the past year and a half, journalists have identified four such trips abroad by the official, which together lasted 61 days.
This is stated in the investigation by Slidstvo.Info.
WHERE IS THE SECRETARY OF THE DNIPRO CITY COUNCIL FLYING DURING THE FULL-SCALE INVASION?
From 28 April to 9 May 2025, the mayor of Dnipro sent his secretary, Oleksandr Sanzhara, to Warsaw to meet with representatives of an engineering company. However, it appears that the official only arrived in Warsaw on 7 May.
Oleksandr Sanzhara, secretary of the Dnipro City Council
On 7 May, a Piper 28-161 aircraft with the registration number T7-TAS, declared by the secretary of the Dnipro City Council, took off from Lesce Airport, located half an hour’s drive from the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, and landed at one of Warsaw’s airports a few hours later. The man probably stayed there for two days, because on the evening of 9 May, the plane took off from Warsaw and landed at the airport in Krosno, near the Ukrainian border.
It is unknown whether the official was dealing with any personal matters during his week in Slovenia. However, his daughter Anastasiia was studying in Ljubljana at the time.
During the New Year holidays — from 28 December 2024 to 10 January 2025 — Secretary Oleksandr Sanzhara was again sent to Warsaw, this time to discuss the project to complete the construction of the underground in Dnipro.
On 29 December, the plane from Sanzhara’s declaration took off from Krosno Airport in Poland and landed in Slovenia almost four hours later. The next flight took place the following day from an airport in Slovenia, but journalists were unable to determine where exactly it went.
“As a pilot, I need to have flying experience on a regular basis, first of all. Secondly, I was renewing my pilot’s licence, for example. To do this, you also need to fly and not lose your skills,” Oleksandr Sanzhara explained in a comment to Slidstvo.Info.
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Earlier in 2024, from 23 August to 9 September, Oleksandr Sanzhara had another business trip to Warsaw regarding the implementation of the project to complete the construction of the Dnipro underground. But on 24 August, the plane took off from Krosno Airport in Poland and landed in Slovenia. Three days later, the plane took off again from Slovenia, and the last recorded coordinates for that day show it landing in Croatia. It can be assumed that the official landed in that country. Ten days later, the plane was back in the air and landed at the aforementioned Krosno Airport.
Screenshot from YouTube Pilot Series
These two trips to Warsaw for negotiations on the completion of the underground construction in Dnipro took 32 days — this is how much time Filatov allocated to his subordinate for trips, during which the official flew around Europe in a private plane.
In 2024, the secretary of the Dnipro City Council had another foreign business trip to Austria and the Czech Republic. The purpose of the trip was to sign a partnership agreement between Dnipro and Ostrava, as well as to give a welcoming speech at the performance of the Dnipro Youth Drama Theatre ‘We Believe!’ in Vienna. However, according to flight information, the route to Ostrava went through Croatia.
It can be traced that the plane took off on 30 April and 1 May. On 4 May, the plane landed in Slovenia and flew to Croatia on the same day. Four days later, on 8 May, the plane took off from Croatia in the direction of Ostrava. On 10 May, the aircraft took off from the Czech Republic and landed at the airport in Krosno, Poland.
In order to give a welcoming speech at a local theatre performance and sign a partnership agreement, Filatov gave his subordinate a 17-day business trip.
“In fact, you have to understand that we work, attend meetings, and do everything else. If I have free time, I can fly. Of course, I fly. In fact, I had a business trip to Poland. I flew the plane from the Czech Republic to Poland,” Oleksandr Sanzhara confirmed to Slidstvo.Info that he used a private plane during a business trip.
Incidentally, according to the law, officials receive money from the budget to perform their duties during business trips.
COST OF THE AIRCRAFT AND ITS MAINTENANCE
The aircraft that Oleksandr Sanzhara took out of Ukraine during the full-scale invasion and which flies around Europe during his business trips has been listed in the official’s declaration since March 2020. Sanzhar initially rented it, and since 2021, Tetyana Sanzhar, the official’s wife, has owned 30% of the aircraft. The remaining 70% still belongs to ATN Enterprises, a company based in the US state of Delaware.
The official does not indicate the cost of the aircraft in any of his declarations, so Slidstvo.Info asked an expert for an estimate. “On average, the cost of such an aircraft on European aircraft sales platforms is about $110-120 thousand,” comments Bohdan Dolintse, an expert on aviation market development. “The cost of ownership, taking into account variable costs such as aviation fuel, aviation fees, parking fees, maintenance, repairs, security, etc., is approximately $10-15 thousand per year on average”.
In addition to his government job, Oleksandr Sanzhara started a YouTube channel called Pilot Series even before the full-scale invasion. In one episode, the official notes that “it costs about $10,000 to get a pilot’s licence”.
Aviation expert Bohdan Dolintse confirms this and adds: “In Ukraine, owning or using private aircraft was not a common practice. First of all, this is because the cost of operating and owning such an aircraft is significantly higher than the level of income”.
Journalists from Slidstvo.Info called Tetiana Sanzhara, who owns 30% of the aircraft, to find out how much money we’re talking about.
“I think it was around $25-30,000, because it was in very poor condition and then had to be repaired. After repairs, it was about $70-80 thousand,” said the wife of the Dnipro City Council secretary in a comment to journalists. It turns out that, according to the official’s wife, the plane and repairs cost the family more than $100 thousand.
Tetiana Sanzhara
Oleksandr Sanzhara himself claims that the family invested only 30% of the total cost of the plane and explains: “If we are talking about some final cost, 85 thousand dollars or euros, I can’t remember now how it was. I did not indicate the cost in the declaration because there was no actual price. There was no final assessment.‘ When asked by journalists whether the amount was $30,000, Sanzhara replied in the affirmative: “Roughly, yes. I took part… That is, it is an opportunity to fly on a plane for a small amount of money. This is absolutely normal.”
Antonina Volkotrub, an analyst at the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, questions the fact that the family managed to accumulate a considerable amount of money at that time: “If they bought the plane in 2021, then why is there no estimated value? In 2019, his income was not particularly high either. In 2019, his [Oleksandr Sanzhar’s] income was almost 470,000 hryvnia, which is his earnings. From these funds, he would have to spend $10,000 or more on training. If he rents this plane, he has to pay for the rent and fuel. Therefore, this period is quite questionable in terms of whether they [the Sanzhar couple] really had enough money to set aside all that cash”.
MYSTERIOUS COMPANY IN THE UNITED STATES
Sanzhara and his wife give different figures and circumstances regarding the purchase of the aircraft. His wife says that the plane was initially purchased in very poor condition and then repaired. Sanzhara himself claims that they simply paid 30% of the total cost of the plane. According to his wife, they invested about $100,000, while according to Sanzhara, only $30,000.
The discrepancy in the couple’s statements can be explained by the fact that 70% of the aircraft is owned by a company in Delaware, USA. Allegedly, the mysterious company paid the bulk of the cost.
The aircraft’s registration number helped establish that it is registered in San Marino. Although San Marino’s aircraft registry is highly confidential, with the help of colleagues from OCCRP, journalists from Slidstvo.Info were able to find out some information about the aircraft’s owner, ATN.
As it turns out, Iryna Sanzhara has been the company’s director since 2018.
Iryna Sanzhara, director of ATN Enterprises, which owns 70% of the aircraft
On LinkedIn, Slidstvo.Info found Iryna Sanzhara, who lived in Dublin from 2016 to 2022 and was involved in the business of manufacturing leather shoes and accessories for children. Journalists found the same woman on Facebook, and her photo was liked by Oleksandr Sanzhara. In addition, the woman posts calls to watch Oleksandr Sanzhara’s YouTube channel Pilot Series.
She is his sister. And she is the director of the company that owns 70% of the Piper 28-161 Warrior aircraft.
In a comment to journalists, Oleksandr Sanzhara said that, as far as he remembers, the company purchased the aircraft in 2019. We will remind you that his sister, Iryna Sanzhara, became the owner of the company in 2018: “Let’s say that she is one of the partners who can use this (aircraft, ed.). She is not a pilot, but her husband wanted to learn to fly and do all this”.
Slidstvo.Info tried to contact Iryna Sanzhara, Oleksandr Sanzhara’s sister, but at the time of publication, she had not read the journalists’ message in the messenger.
The plane mostly takes off during Oleksandr Sanzhara’s trips abroad. Even before Russia’s full-scale invasion, the plane was mostly in Ukraine, while Oleksandr Sanzhara’s sister has been living abroad for a long time. This is clear from her LinkedIn bio. Therefore, it appears that Oleksandr Sanzhara is the main pilot of the Piper 28-161 he declared. Although Sanzhara initially suggested in a conversation with journalists that his sister’s family had bought part of the plane, his version suddenly changed — there are some other mysterious investors.
“When, basically, the decision was made to buy a share of the plane, one person had a glider licence, and another person was taking flying lessons. The person who has a glider licence has not yet been able to convert it into a pilot’s licence, but has friends with whom he can fly. The person who was studying also did not obtain a licence, but has friends with whom he can fly. Accordingly, if they want to fly, they fly. But you have to understand that I am the kind of driver who says, ‘Guys, let’s get together’. They can fly, but for some reason they don’t fly,” Oleksandr Sanzhara told journalists.
Oleksandr Sanzhara also shared his plans for the future with Slidstvo.Info and said that he plans to buy this plane: “I plan, perhaps, taking into account this position… We already have an agreement that we will continue to buy it, but so far this agreement has not been implemented”.
The secretary of the Dnipro City Council, which is subjected to Russian attacks on an almost daily basis, has been sent abroad by Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov for a total of 61 days over the past year and a half. These are only the trips during which Slidstvo.Info journalists were able to establish the fact of the use of the plane from the official’s declaration.
