Three collaborators helped loot the Pallada shipyard in Kherson
1.09.2025 - 13:47
Officials of the occupation plant “Pallada” in Kherson were informed of suspicions of “nationalization” and theft of property.
For this they face up to 12 years in prison, the Center for Journalistic Investigations reports.
In 2022, three citizens of Ukraine – 50-year-old Oleg Balabantsev, his 43-year-old brother Serhiy, and 47-year-old Kherson resident Yulia Istomina – agreed to take managerial positions at the enterprise “Pallada” in Kherson. In fact, they helped the invaders appropriate the property of the local LLC “Pallada Shipyard”.
The investigation established that in August 2022, Serhiy Balabantsev voluntarily headed this enterprise. His older brother received the position of deputy director, and Yulia Istomina from Kherson became the chief accountant. They worked as part of the so-called inventory commission of the occupiers and participated in the nationalization of the property of the shipyard.
For these actions, they were all charged in absentia under Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – aiding an aggressor state. The sanction provides for up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
The publication noted that Oleg Balabantsev managed PJSC “Kherson Plant “Sudmash” in 2016–2024. Before that, he owned a car dealership in Pryluky, and during the 2014 presidential elections, he headed the election commission in the Chernihiv region, where corruption cases were opened against him.
It should be noted that before the start of the full-scale war, LLC “Pallada Shipyard” was known as the Kherson State Plant “Pallada”. The enterprise specialized in the construction of composite reinforced concrete floating docks and is part of the Ukroboronprom concern.
As a reminder, last year the Kherson City Court found Gennady Kompanyets guilty of collaborating with the aggressor state. He illegally headed the company seized by the occupiers, previously known as the Kherson State Plant “Pallada”, and stole four vessels from the enterprise, transporting them to the left bank of the Kherson region. These are the tugboat “Kherson”, the tugboat “Kinnel”, the barge-platform “BP 274” and the non-self-propelled floating crane “Astrakhan-1”.
