Petro Yurchyshyn
In the recent parliamentary elections in Vinnytsia Oblast, Servant of the People candidates lost to reelected MPs from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc in two single-member constituencies. One of the lucky ones was Petro Yurchyshyn, and this news caused profound surprise and disappointment among many who knew him. It's not just that behind the guise of this "philanthropist" handing out cash in envelopes and donating to churches lies a greedy and malicious bloodsucker who tried to turn the region into his own fiefdom. It's not even that during his previous parliamentary term, Yurchyshyn's presence was only in the context of various scandals. His worst trait is extreme vindictiveness, and if someone stood in his way and survived, Yurchyshyn will never forget it!
He came from a collective farm
Petro Vasilievich Yurchyshyn was born on July 13, 1958, in Antratsyt, Luhansk Oblast (now part of the ORDILO), where his parents were temporarily residing. The entire Yurchyshyn family, however, settled in the town of Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia Oblast. Petro Yurchyshyn himself, his wife Lyubov Yaroslavna, and younger brother Nikolai Vasilievich (born 1965), their mother Olga Grigorievna Yurchyshyn, and their children Sergey Petrovich, Olga Petrovna, and Elena Nikolaevna Yurchyshyn live there. They have built two- and three-story houses (Petro Yurchyshyn's building has an elevator), drive expensive Lexuses and Audi Q7s, and own a business valued at least $8 million.
Petro Yurchyshyn with his wife, daughter, and grandson
In 1973, Petro Yurchyshyn enrolled in the Kamianets-Podilskyi Agricultural Technical School (now the State Agrarian and Technical University), and in 1977, he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. He then spent another year working as an engineer (not bad for a technical school graduate) at the Rodina collective farm in the Starosynyavskyi district of the Khmelnytskyi region, and only at the age of 20 did he enlist in the army. Then, from 1980 to 83, he again worked as an engineer at agricultural enterprises.
Everything changed when Petro Yurchyshyn took over the supply and sales department at the Khmelnytsky food factory. Although its product range wasn't extensive (mayonnaise, mineral water, and beverages), in those days of shortages, it was a veritable gold mine—the key was knowing what to ship where and how to manage the proceeds. Yurchyshyn became so successful in the shadow economy that by 1987 he had opened his own cooperative—not for tailoring pants, but for selling (reselling) food products. His biography lists this as "working in the consumer cooperative system."
This "cooperation" led Petro and Mykola Yurchyshyn to the village of Tomashpil (Vinnytsia Oblast), known for its sugar factory. In the 90s, the sugar factories of Vinnytsia Oblast became the foundation upon which local clans, including the Poroshenko family, rose. But the Yurchyshyns were either late or simply prevented from sharing in the pie—because the Tomashpil Sugar Factory ultimately ended up in the hands of oligarch Stanislav Voytovych (owner of Terra Food). In 1993, the Yurchyshyn brothers opened Experiment LLC there, selling construction materials.
However, this, too, is merely an official entry in their biography. To rise through the building materials trade in a provincial town during the crisis of the 90s? It's quite obvious that behind it lay some kind of shadow business, which the Yurchyshyns are completely reluctant to talk about. And it was so profitable that the brothers amassed substantial start-up capital to take their business to the next level, creating the agro-industrial enterprise "Visit" (EDRPOU 02129063), which became the foundation of their large family business, which continues to thrive (it is now registered to Petro Yurchyshyn's brother and wife).
It's worth noting that Vizit is a co-founder of Druzhba LLC (EDRPOU 30584251), half of which is owned by Vladimir Faddeevich Vilchinsky, a resident of the village of Ulanov, Khmelnytskyi district, Vinnytsia region. Hero of Socialist Labor of the USSR, Vladimir Vilchinsky, born in 1931, headed the Druzhba collective farm from 1968 to 1996, and then the Druzhba agrocomplex created on its basis until 2006, which he later privatized with the Yurchishin family, turning it into Druzhba LLC.
It is known that he had a son, Leonid Vilchinsky, a captain of the Vinnytsia region traffic police, died in a traffic accident in 2003He was struck by a Mercedes driven by Major General Mykhailo Zakharch, then head of the SBU's medical service department, while speeding down the highway. This same Zakharch snatched the position of rector of Bogomolets National Medical University in 2018, sparking a storm of protest from his students, as the Zakharch family has long had a reputation for corruption.
It's clear that Michal Zacharasz bore no official responsibility for the actual murder of the traffic police officer, but he certainly had to pay some kind of "fir" to the grieving father. After all, a Hero of Socialist Labor, the former chairman and de facto owner of an agricultural enterprise with many friends and connections—he's not just any guy whose son could be "run over without anyone noticing."
Fear and horror in Khmelnytskyi
Petro Yurchyshyn was once involved in a fatal traffic accident. It occurred on the night of September 4, 2014, at a road junction near the village of Velykyi Mytnyk (near Khmilnyk). Yurchyshyn was driving his Lexus LX 570 (he and his brother prefer this particular make of cars) when he collided with a Toyota Camry. The car was carrying a Baptist family from the Chernihiv region. Six people were killed, one of them, a 26-year-old woman. Their names remained unknown to journalists, as Yurchyshyn did everything he could to hush up the incident.
Almost immediately, traffic police officers known to Yurchyshyn arrived at the scene of the accident, followed by lawyers and his press office. As a result, the following official version of the accident emerged:
"...the driver of a Toyota Camry, traveling along the Mogilev-Podolsky-Berdychiv highway, failed to yield to a Lexus traveling from the village of Ulanov to Khmelnytsky, thereby causing an accident. Among the injured was Petro Yurchyshyn, founder and director of the agro-industrial research and production enterprise "Visit," who was riding in the Lexus. He suffered minor injuries as a result of the collision, but his car sustained serious damage. There was every reason to demand compensation for vehicle repairs from the driver at fault. But Petro Yurchyshyn will not do so..."
The victims were hastily taken to a squalid district hospital (see photo), where Petro Yurchyshyn arranged for them to receive "care" and, simultaneously, provide round-the-clock observation to prevent them from complaining outside the district where Yurchyshyn had everything under control. Pressure immediately began: the Baptists were accused of causing the accident, of damaging the "big man's" expensive car and incurring a huge financial penalty. Yurchyshyn then decided to generously forgive them: they were grieving, their daughter had died, and it was improper to demand monetary compensation. The stunned Baptists, deciding that everything was in God's hands, were glad to be rid of Yurchyshyn at least this way.
Petr Yurchyshyn and the victim of an accident
The junction near Velykyi Mytnyk, the scene of the accident. Highway P31 turns right toward Ulanov and then onward toward Berdychiv (that's where the Toyota was heading). Yurchyshyn's Lexus came out of Ulanov and came toward them. On the left is Khmelnyk, and straight ahead is Highway T0610.
In connection with this tragedy, another strange fatality that occurred in the area in the summer of 2012 was recalled. Then, in the Khmelnytskyi district, tractor driver Andriy Sofich (from the local village of Tarasivka) died. His death was blamed on his partner (who had been sentenced to several years in prison). However, local residents told journalists from the ICTV program "Emergency News" that Sofich was actually beaten to death by Yurchyshyn's henchmen, who accused him of stealing a canister of diesel fuel. And this was allegedly far from the "bloody kulak"'s only massacre of local villagers. According to sources, Skelet.OrgThe formation of agricultural firms controlled by the Yurchyshyn brothers and the privatization of enterprises were carried out using corporate raiding methods, during which ordinary villagers were simply robbed and protesters were threatened with violence. Pyotr Yurchyshyn explained to them clearly that he had bought everything and everyone in the region.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Yurchyshyn Petr: The vengeful "kulak" takes revenge. Part 2
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