UP finds that Odesa businessman may have sheltered fugitive prosecutor general Kravchenko in Vienna

Odesa businessman Volodymyr Halanternyk may have helped former prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko settle in Vienna. People who are believed to work for the businessman gave statements to Austrian police against Ukrainska Pravda journalists who were searching for Kravchenko.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda's investigation CarthageProsecutor: Why Ukrainska Pravda journalists were really detained in Vienna (English subtitles coming soon)

Details: Sources in political and business circles told Ukrainska Pravda that Halanternyk is close to Kravchenko. The sources say he may have helped the former prosecutor general settle in Austria after leaving Ukraine.

Halanternyk himself has been living abroad in hiding for many years and is implicated in two cases investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO). Investigators suspect him of involvement in a criminal group that caused losses to the Odesa hromada . 

Ukrainska Pravda's sources in anti-corruption agencies do not rule out the possibility that Halanternyk was one of the behind-the-scenes organisers of the attack on NABU and SAPO in July 2025. Sources in law enforcement agencies also suggest that the businessman may have given evidence against the anti-corruption bodies, including in the case involving MP Fedir Khrystenko.

The UP investigation says that after journalists appeared outside the building believed to be Kravchenko's home, people likely linked to Halanternyk contacted Austrian police.

Quote from Ukrainska Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach: "The investigation materials available to our editorial team suggest that the statements against our film crew, the Ukrainska Pravda crew, may have been given by representatives of the staff working for Halanternyk himself: an assistant to the manager of the property and, presumably, Halanternyk's own driver."

Details: One witness told police that his car had been followed. Ukrainska Pravda journalists did indeed follow him and filmed him bringing a man resembling Halanternyk to central Vienna. The driver did not mention the passenger in his statement.

Another witness reported filming from a car used by Tkach and Bondarenko and said that the driver resembled one of the "suspicious men". According to Tkach, one of the servicemen from Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) detained in Vienna does indeed look similar to Bondarenko.

Ukrainska Pravda contacted Halanternyk for comment, but he ignored its messages and calls.

According to one report, between 14 and 18 September, the Austrian security service was dealing with a "Ukrainian national who was in danger". This person said they had seen Artan commander Viktor Torkotiuk at the Park Hyatt hotel in Vienna. Law enforcement officers checked his identity. Torkotiuk explained to them that he had arrived as a tourist.

On 6 October, two of his subordinates were detained in Austria. They had military ID cards, concealed cameras and trackers with them. They said they were there on holiday. Torkotiuk confirmed to the security service that they were his subordinates. Bondarenko, an Ukrainska Pravda cameraman, was also mentioned in the report on Torkotiuk's contact with the service.

Quote from the report, as cited in the investigation: "He [Torkotiuk] had a photo of a Polish passenger car used by the two DIU servicemen and Bondarenko during surveillance. The photograph had also been taken in Vienna."

Details: In another report, Austrian law enforcement officers claimed that Bondarenko and one of the detained servicemen had left a car park together. They cited CCTV footage and data from the car rental company.

However, Ukrainska Pravda stresses that the footage attached to the case shows Tkach sitting next to Bondarenko, not a DIU serviceman.

According to Ukrainska Pravda's sources in DIU, the two intelligence officers noticed at one point that they were being followed but were instructed to continue their work. The editorial team contacted Torkotiuk for comment.

After their detention on 8 October, Tkach and Bondarenko explained during questioning that they were carrying out an editorial assignment and looking for Kravchenko. Austrian law enforcement officers checked the Central Register of Residents to establish whether he was registered at the building where the journalists had been working.

Official records made by a prosecutor on the night of 8-9 October state that the journalists' explanations appeared credible and that no connection between Bondarenko and DIU servicemen had been established.

Quote from the official records, as cited in the investigation: "A query to the ZMR [Central Register of Residents] showed that the target individual was registered there. According to the caller, the accounts are generally consistent and entirely credible. Order for immediate release from custody."

Details: The investigation's authors say the results of the check confirm that the journalists had managed to establish Kravchenko's address in Vienna. Ukrainska Pravda also suggests that the former prosecutor general was the "Ukrainian national in danger" being protected by the Austrian security services.

Ukrainska Pravda also offered Kravchenko an opportunity to comment or give an interview.

Instead, on 28 October, Kravchenko claimed that the heads of NABU and SAPO had asked for a team to be sent to Austria to carry out "violent actions" against him, and that the orders had supposedly come from the President's Office.

He also linked Ukrainska Pravda journalists to DIU servicemen but did not explain why he had not returned to Ukraine.

NABU rejected the allegations, describing Kravchenko's statement as an attempt to secure protection for himself abroad.

Read more: Three shards of glass under his eye and espionage charges: how a UP employee was kept handcuffed in an Austrian hospital

Background:

• Kravchenko left Ukraine on the night of 13-14 September. Under an order he had signed himself, he was due to spend five days in Paris, allegedly attending hearings on Ukrainian children under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. However, his name did not appear on the list of participants in the discussion.
• His business trip ended on 18 September. According to Mariana Haiovska, spokesperson for the Prosecutor General's Office, Kravchenko had not returned to work by 21 September.
• Ukrainska Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko were detained in Vienna on 8 October while searching for the former prosecutor general. Tkach said that armed masked men smashed the windows of their car and dragged both journalists onto the road. Bondarenko was injured.
• Tkach said that after their detention, they were accused of espionage on behalf of Ukrainian military intelligence, participation in a criminal organisation and causing harm to Austria. According to the Austrian Interior Ministry, the suspicion of espionage was subsequently not substantiated.
• The Vienna Prosecutor's Office said the detention had been based on eyewitness statements. Ukrainska Pravda believes that law enforcement officers exceeded their authority.

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