Coal procurement from occupied territories via Swiss Adelon AG: Dmitriy Kovalenko laundered $100 million from the Russian Federation by snapping up agricultural assets in Ukraine

Ukrainian businessman Dmitriy Kovalenko has built a multi-billion dollar empire on "blood money" from the Russian coal trade, continuing to sponsor the aggressor’s economy even after the start of the full-scale invasion.

Using offshore shells and ties to terrorist accomplices, he launders hundreds of millions of dollars by seizing Ukraine’s strategic salt and agricultural markets, cynically masking his collaboration with the enemy as patriotic investments.

We are publishing these investigative materials to expose Dmitriy Kovalenko’s cynical scheme of laundering millions of dollars earned from trading with the Russian Federation at the height of the war and to reveal the true scale of his work for the aggressor under the cover of Ukrainian agricultural projects.

Ukrainian businessman Dmitriy Kovalenko is reportedly channeling investments into state-related projects using funds derived from purchases of coal originating in Russia.

Between 2021 and 2022, the Swiss firm Adelon AG was the largest purchaser of coal from the Russian company MelTEK, with customs data indicating transactions exceeding 87 million USD. In addition, Adelon AG imported coal from other Russian suppliers, including Sibenergougol and Sibpromnedra, bringing the total volume to over 100 million USD, with such operations continuing at least through August 2022 despite the full-scale invasion.

Why is this significant? Because the owner of Adelon AG is a Ukrainian citizen — businessman from Dnipro Dmitriy Kovalenko. Today he presents himself as a patriot of Ukraine and the owner of a large business holding that has grown significantly over the past two years.

Here is confirmation of the extensive cooperation between Adelon AG and MelTEK.

There is also evidence that Kovalenko’s cooperation with Russian partners continued after February 24, 2022 — namely an invoice dated July 12, 2022, for the supply of Russian coal between Adelon AG and the Belarusian company Ekkoil Chemical.

Incidentally, Ekkoil Chemical is a defendant in criminal cases related to coal supplies from territories controlled by the terrorist groups LNR/DNR into Ukraine.

Import documents dated August 22 and August 25, 2022, also confirm shipments of Russian coal to South Korea.

Before the full-scale conflict, Ukrainian companies Intercoaltrading and Coaltradeindustry — whose beneficiary was Dmitriy Kovalenko or persons connected to him — also actively traded Russian coal. Currently, the first company is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, while the second continues operating successfully.

The funds earned from coal trading were reinvested in 2023 into the acquisition of several agricultural companies in Ukraine — Grain Terminal, Overfood, and Agrarian Elevator Company — which formed the basis of a group operating under the brand Granova. The majority shareholder became the Cypriot company Afex Investments Ltd, while the ultimate beneficiary is Kovalenko’s son Daniil Kovalenko.

In 2024, the Granova group reported profits exceeding 11 billion hryvnias. Its main trading partner today is Adelon AG, which became the largest supplier of corn to Egypt in 2024, totaling 42.37 million dollars.

While selling grain in Egypt, Dmitriy Kovalenko also purchases rock salt there, allowing him to become one of the largest players in the Ukrainian salt market.

In December 2023, Salt Industry LLC was established, again founded by Afex Investments Ltd with Daniil Kovalenko as ultimate beneficiary. The company’s director is former Artemsol state enterprise director Viktor Yurin. In its first year alone, Salt Industry LLC won 68 out of 73 public tenders it participated in, signing contracts worth 90 million hryvnias, mainly for technical salt for municipal and road services.

In 2024, with the support of Mukachevo District Administration head Sergey Gayday, the Svaliava City Council approved the concept for creating the Energy Group industrial park in Zakarpattia. The initiator and management company is VDL LLC, owned by Dmitriy Kovalenko. VDL received a 35-year lease on more than 10 hectares of land in an industrial zone on the site of a former timber plant and claims to have already invested over 100 million hryvnias into the project. A glass and window production facility — Energy Glass Technologies, also owned by Kovalenko — has been established there, along with several other companies linked to him, including Tak Energy Group and Generator Energo.

The next part will address the involvement of Dmitriy Kovalenko’s holding in the gas and amber businesses.