Navigating the intersecting frontlines of a brutal war and structural state reforms, OCCRP and a network of Ukrainian partners have introduced a new approach for driving reform and accountability in the country.
Established in 2025, this collaborative framework aims to advance deep-dive investigative journalism and connect those findings to the policy efforts of leading advocacy groups. By linking high-impact reporting with civil society expertise, the partners work to expose wrongdoing, trigger concrete legal action, close regulatory loopholes, and tighten international sanctions.
While OCCRP’s editorial teams support the work of Ukrainian media partners, the Impact Department coordinates with a network of civil society organizations and the accountability ecosystem. This approach maximizes their complementary strengths while strictly preserving their independence. It draws inspiration from the decade-old Global Anti-Corruption Consortium — a partnership between OCCRP and Transparency International that an external evaluation found to be five times more effective than traditional reporting alone.
The partners in Ukraine are six investigative media outlets (TV Toronto, NGL.media, Schemes, KibOrg, Dnipro.media, and Hromadske) and four civil society organizations (Anti-Corruption Action Center, Anti-Corruption Headquarters, Economic Security Council of Ukraine, and the Institute of Legislative Ideas). Below is a spotlight on some of their work.
NGL.media: Expanding Reach Through Cross-Border Collaboration
Through this partnership, NGL.media significantly expanded its investigative capacity by participating in a major cross-border investigation into an illegal gambling network. Collaborating directly with OCCRP and partner newsrooms in Poland and Cyprus, the Ukrainian team sifted through complex international corporate registries and coordinated this cross-border publication.
This ambitious project empowered the newsroom to expand its capabilities with a new video format that has deeply resonated with audiences. The resulting content has already surpassed 150,000 views, helping them connect with new viewers and driving a remarkable increase in their subscriber base.
Schemes: Exposing Elite Corruption and Russian War Crimes
Schemes, a Kyiv-based investigative project of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service created in the wake of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, has proven to be a critical force in exposing domestic corruption, abuse of power, and Russian war crimes. In close collaboration with OCCRP, Schemes recently delivered two high-impact cross-border investigations.
The first tracked the illicit wealth of a businessman who is suspected of embezzling funds from a state-linked energy company during the full-scale invasion. Just as Ukrainian law enforcement moved to secure an international arrest warrant, Schemes revealed that the businessman simultaneously owned luxury chalets in the French ski resort Courchevel and was renovating a villa near Lake Geneva.
In another joint investigation, Schemes and OCCRP identified a medical worker at a Russian penal colony nicknamed “Konoval,” a derogatory term for a crude animal doctor. The story documented how this individual systematically subjected Ukrainian prisoners of war to sexualized and psychological torture while denying them life-saving medical care, providing vital evidence to the public of wartime atrocities.
Economic Security Council of Ukraine (ESCU): Leveraging Data for Sanctions Enforcement
The Economic Security Council of Ukraine (ESCU) has demonstrated how investigative journalism can be powerfully transformed into concrete policy action. ESCU works behind the scenes to push published reporting past public exposure and directly into international policy, sanctions, and advocacy channels. Through this work, ESCU is taking direct aim at the economic networks fueling Russia's military-industrial complex.
One example of ESCU’s work is calling for stricter enforcement of sanctions targeting the Alabuga Special Economic Zone — Russia's primary production hub for Shahed-type long-range attack drones. Building on an investigation by OCCRP’s member center Kyiv Independent about Western companies missing the EU’s January 2026 exit deadline, ESCU compiled a meticulous sanctions-compliance policy brief exposing multiple European companies that failed to comply with the deadline. ESCU’s strategic outreach moved this evidence directly into European diplomatic circles. This advocacy swiftly yielded results: authorities initiated follow-ups with the non-compliant companies.
ESCU also achieved traction by exposing a critical regulatory blind spot involving EU-origin crude glycerine, a key ingredient used in military explosives and lubricants. ESCU’s trade data analysis, based on another Kyiv Independent investigation, revealed a massive sanctions gap, exposing that over 96% of Russia's crude glycerine imports originated from EU nations under an unrestricted customs code. In response, the NGO drafted a sanctions submission targeting major Russian petrochemical networks, prompting multiple official responses.
Alongside these primary tracks, ESCU has served as a vital analytical resource for prominent media outlets — including NGL.media, The Kyiv Independent, and RFE/RL’s Schemes project — ensuring that complex supply-chain data is deciphered and effectively leveraged to choke off illicit military flows.
Institute of Legislative Ideas (ILI): Driving Transparency in Ukraine’s Asset Recovery
In the critical fight against corruption and the illicit shielding of sanctioned wealth, the Institute of Legislative Ideas (ILI) has established itself as a formidable institutional watchdog. An independent think tank dedicated to analyzing anti-corruption legislation, ILI provides critical legal and policy expertise to media outlets. One such example is an investigation by OCCRP’s longtime partner Slidstvo.info exposing how a Russian shipping company transported stolen Ukrainian wheat. ILI also focuses on bringing transparency to Ukraine’s Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA).
A cornerstone of ILI’s recent impact is its rigorous monitoring and analytical output. The organization produces a series of detailed monthly digests distributed to over 620 Ukrainian and international stakeholders, shedding light on asset sales and how the government selects companies to oversee seized corrupt assets as well as proceeds from those assets.
Parallel to these digests, ILI authored five specialized analytical briefs targeting systemic vulnerabilities, exposing challenges ranging from the management of seized vessels to the disposal of real estate belonging to Russian General Valery Kapashin.
Currently, ILI is collaborating with state authorities to revise Ukraine's national Asset Recovery Strategy. By addressing critical gaps and promoting the social use of confiscated assets, ILI is proving that systemic legislative reform and aggressive public oversight are essential to turning seized proceeds of crime into tangible public victories.
As Ukraine continues to navigate the complexities of wartime defense and institutional reform, the ongoing efforts of OCCRP and its partners highlight the critical intersection of civil society, investigative journalism, and policy enforcement. Together, these partnerships demonstrate a powerful model for the future, one where exposing illicit wealth and systemic vulnerabilities leads toward lasting, structural accountability.
This project is supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and other generous donors.
