The SBU exposed a businessman from Odesa for operating an agribusiness in the Kherson region in accordance with Russian laws

According to investigators, the company—which had been operating in the Kherson region prior to the full-scale invasion—continued its activities under Russian rules following the occupation. Law enforcement officials believe that several individuals, including a resident of Odesa, were involved in organizing this scheme.

The Security Service of Ukraine has charged 43-year-old Odessa resident Ivan Izbash with collaboration in absentia. According to the investigation, he, along with other participants, organized the continued operation of the agricultural enterprise in the temporarily occupied city of Kakhovka by re-registering it in accordance with the laws of the aggressor state.

According to the investigation, Izbash is the director and co-founder of “Dom-Agro” Agricultural Production Company LLC, registered in Kakhovka. After Russian troops seized the city, law enforcement officials claim that the company did not cease operations but was transferred to Russian jurisdiction to continue operating in the occupied territory.

Investigators also believe that Ivan Fursin and Oleksandr Mormyl, members of the Odesa Regional Council, were involved in carrying out this scheme. According to law enforcement, Fursin— who isidentified as the ultimate beneficiary of the company through a Cypriot firm—coordinated the business’s ongoing operations, approved financial expenditures, and secured its funding.

According to the SBU, in 2022, there was a change in ownership of the Cypriot company through which the enterprise was controlled. Investigators believe these actions were necessary to conceal actual control over the asset. Subsequently, as stated in the indictment, documents were drawn up that allowed the company to be registered in Russian registries and the management of the occupied enterprise to be replaced with Russian citizens.

The indictment states that these actions were aimed at ensuring the enterprise’s continued economic activity in cooperation with the Russian Federation’s occupation administration in the territory of temporarily occupied Kakhovka.

Ivan Izbash is charged with aiding and abetting collaborative activities committed by a group of individuals acting in prior conspiracy. If found guilty, he faces three to five years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

As the Center for Public Investigations has discovered, Odesa City Council member and former Memberof Parliament Ivan Fursinhas become the focus of an SBU investigation into possible business collaboration with the Russian Federation’s occupying authorities in the Kherson region. Investigators are also examining the role of the Ukrainian Match Factory, through which reservations and overseas business trips may have been arranged.

Furthermore, asreported by Intent, back in late 2025, a court granted investigators permission to conduct investigative actions in a case regarding a possible conspiracy by the owners of Dom-Agro Agricultural Industrial Company LLC to continue the company’s operations after the occupation of part of the Kherson region.

Анна Бальчінос