38 candidates were admitted to the post of head of the State Customs Service
The Commission for the Selection of the Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine has admitted 38 candidates to the further stages of the competition. This was announced during the meeting by the Secretary of the Commission Oleg Tymkiv.
According to him, four applications were rejected after the documents were checked. The main reasons were the absence of a confirmed diploma of higher legal or economic education, failure to submit a declaration for 2024, lack of confirmed work experience and violation of the deadlines for submitting documents. In general, the commission checked compliance with three key criteria. Submission of documents by 10 December 2025. A complete package of documents. At least 10 years of total work experience and 5 years of management experience.
We publish interesting information about all the candidates for the position of the Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine. Most of them are currently working or have held positions in the State Customs Service in the recent past, mostly in senior positions. Among the candidates for the post are a drink-driver, an unemployed person, NABU detectives and Umerov's former deputy. We will gradually add and update the information.
Yaroslav Savchenko, LLC & UT Company», manager
Alexander Fedorishyn, is the head of Spetstechnoexport, a state-owned enterprise that exports and imports military products. In 2022-2023, he worked at the State Property Fund of Ukraine, where he was deputy to the current Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov for 2 months and then acted as the head of the SPFU for another 2 months after Umerov moved to the Ministry of Defence. By the way, Spetstechnoexport is subordinated to the Ministry of Defence.
Andrii Baranov, Chairman of the Board of the NGO «Ukrainian Military Movement»
Mykhailo Miroshnychenko, until August 2025, head of the logistics department of Dnipro Electro-Mechanical Plant LLC, worked at the State Customs Service in 2007-2023. He was acting head of Odesa Customs and head of the Internal Audit Department of the State Customs Service.
Orest Mandziy, Head of the Sixth Detective Unit of the Fourth Main Detective Unit of the NABU.
Sergiy Buyalsky, head of Donetsk Customs since the end of 2024. Since the end of 2020, he has headed Dnipro, Poltava, Vinnytsia, and Podil customs, but he is also a politician. In 2010-2015, he was a member of the Vinnytsia Regional Council from the Party of Regions. In 2015-2020, he was a member of the Mohyliv-Podilskyi District Council of Vinnytsia region from the Nash Krai party (he also ran for the regional council but was not elected). He has been working at the customs since 1999.
Hanna Chornutska, in 2002 was an auditor and accountant at the Insurance Company "Boiovi Rukavychky".
Yuriy Zanik, State Customs Service, Head of the Department for Strategic Development and Anti-Corruption Activities
Vladyslav Suvorov, Deputy Head of the State Customs Service
Olga Korkh, in 2021-2025 - Deputy Chairman of the Board and Acting Chairman of the State Enterprise "Automobile Roads of Ukraine", which was subordinated to the State Recovery of Mustafa Nayem and Serhiy Sukhomlin.
Daniil Menshikov, State Aviation Service, acting head
Ivan Kerezvas, Acting Head of Lviv Customs
Ivan Yaromiy, head of the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Capital District. His wife has $160,000 and gives the official a Mercedes-Benz GLE 350de for use
Ivan Berezhniuk, head of Khmelnytsky Customs since 2024. He also headed Zhytomyr and Zakarpattia customs. He commanded a military unit in 2022-2023. He assisted MP Oleksandr Sova (2022). In 2021-2022, he was a pro bono advisor to Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko. In 2021, he worked as the First Deputy Head of the State Customs Service.
Pavlo Sych, Kyiv Customs, First Deputy Head
Ruslan Damentsov, Deputy Head of the Second Detective Unit at NABU. He has been working there in various positions since 2017. Prior to that, he worked in the police and militia. He wanted to head the BES this year, but failed. The media pointed out that the detective has owned a Lexus car and an apartment in Odesa since 2022, but he is registered in a dormitory. 2 houses in Odesa and a land plot belong to his father-in-law. His wife had a land plot and 2 cars. Unfortunately, the detective's declarations have disappeared from public access, so we cannot verify this now.
Oleksandr Cherkunov, Head of the HR Department of the State Customs Service's territorial bodies has been working in the structure since 2017. He is the son of Vitaliy Cherkunov, former head of Kherson, Lviv and Odesa customs offices, who was appointed to Lviv region by Roman Nasirov. In particular, in 2016, 23-year-old Oleksandr drove a Jaguar XF,
Volodymyr Ilnytskyi, Energy Customs, Head of the WCO
Dmytro Zabavsky, State Customs Service, Head of Operational Management of the Anti-Smuggling Department
Maryna Svitelska, Since 2019, owner and director of Alliance Car PE in Zhytomyr, the company has been trading and importing cars from abroad, so it faces customs procedures. According to tax reports, the company has not sold anything since 2023.
Tetyana Buryak, in 2013-2021, was the first deputy head of the Kyiv Interregional Customs. Since then, she has been dismissed due to staff reductions and reorganisation. She has been working at the customs since 2006 in Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv region. She has not been officially employed since 2021.
Oleksandr Boyko, Lviv Customs, Head of Legal Department
Yevhen Harmash, has been teaching at the University of Customs and Finance (formerly the Academy of Customs Service of Ukraine) in Dnipro since 2003.
Ilya Nizhnikov, Head of the Transcarpathian Customs
Volodymyr Kozyura, Lviv Customs, Chief State Inspector
Victor Denysovets, since October 2022 has been working as a chief sector specialist for Volyn region at the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities (NEURC).
Kostiantyn Gordetskyi, Pivdenna Customs, Head of Sector
Vitaliy Svidzinsky, State Customs Service, Deputy Director of the Department
Lyubov Sokolova, Volyn Customs, Deputy Head of Operational Department No. 1 of the UBC PM
Vladyslav Lipynskyi, Director of the Institute of Law and International Legal Relations, University of Customs and Finance since 2019.
Larysa Pochtova, Deputy Head of the Volyn Customs
Nykola Marchenko, First Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine In 2021-2025, he was a member of the Servant of the People party. He is a lawyer and political scientist by education. In 2007-2012, he was an assistant to MP Mykhailo Chechetov of the Party of Regions. In 2014-2019, he worked for MPs Oleksii Mochkov (UDAR), Iryna Konstankevych and Viktor Shevchenko (UKROP). Mykola Marchenko's brother is an assistant to MP Mykola Zadorozhnyi from the Servant of the People party.
Oleg Khilkovskyi, State Border Guard Service, Assistant Head of the Border Guard Detachment
Stanislav Baluev, since 2023, Deputy Head of the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development of Zakarpattia Oblast. In 2001-2019, he worked at customs and headed the Zakarpattia Customs. In 2019, President Zelensky called on the acting head of the State Tax Service to dismiss the heads of customs in 4 regions in western Ukraine. At that time, Baluyev was the head of the Transcarpathian Customs. Based on the results of his performance evaluation, he received a negative rating (1.4 points) and was dismissed from his post.
Anatoliy Komirnyi – works as Deputy Minister for Digital Development at the Ministry of Social Policy, Deputy Minister for Digital Development, worked at the Ministry of Infrastructure
Taras Yurchenko has been working as a lawyer since 2019, and since 2023 he has also been a lecturer at the Department of Law at the Vinnytsia Educational and Research Institute of Economics.
Oleksii Ovsiannikov - Head of the Third Investigation Department of the State Bureau of Investigation located in Kramatorsk
Mykhailo Burtovyi has been a senior detective at the NABU since early 2023. Since 2006, he has worked in criminal investigation in the police/police in Kyiv.
Volodymyr Kozyura, Lviv Customs, Chief State Inspector
Oleksiy Skryl, Yaroslav Serenkov, Ihor Kavaler and Artur Stanishovskyi were not allowed to enter the country.
The Chairman of the Commission Kunio Mikuria noted that the requirements of the Customs Code are strict, but the Commission is obliged to comply with them, while analysing the possibilities of improving the tender procedures in the future.
After the list of admitted bidders is published, they have three days to file complaints. The next stage will be the aptitude test. The maximum score is 145 points, with a minimum of 107 points required to pass. The test is expected to take place in mid-January 2026.
The position of the Head of the State Customs Service has been vacant since 2021. The competitive selection is part of the customs reform enshrined in the Ukraine Facility Plan, the National Revenue Strategy for 2024-2030, and the IMF commitments.
Sources Telegram of journalist Taras Seredich, Informator.ua, kmu.gov.ua.
