Kyiv businessman’s beating: what the Carthage case materials reveal

An attack on a businessman outside a sports club in Kyiv in July 2026 was among the incidents described by media citing video materials released by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) about Operation Carthage. On November 5, NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced that five people had been notified of suspicion in the case. Investigators link the organization’s activities not only to illegal businesses protected by law enforcement officials but also to commissioned attacks.

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According to a November 5 report by Nashe Misto based on the bureau’s materials, the businessman was beaten with a metal pipe outside a sports club. The outlet also reports that suspects obtained information about potential victims’ movements by accessing the Safe City system through the account of an employee of the Security Service of Ukraine’s Department for the Protection of National Statehood.

Strana, recounting the NABU video, describes an attack in the city centre: three masked men waited for the businessman at the sports club exit; two restrained him while the third struck him with a pipe. According to that report, preparations involved several weeks of gathering information about the victim’s car, habits and routes. The outlet also attributes assistance with the attackers’ escape and the passing of information about the investigation to a deputy head of a criminal investigation division in Kyiv regional police. This is an account of the investigators’ allegations, not facts established by a court.

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NABU and SAPO announced the exposure of the organization on November 4. According to investigators, it included at least 12 people and recruited serving senior officials from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Police. The bureau alleges that the organization facilitated fraudulent call centres, drug sales, the production of counterfeit cigarettes and foreign currency, and organized attacks and abductions.

The official November 5 statement lists the alleged organizer and his subordinate, the first deputy head of an SBU department, the head of a National Police department, and a deputy head of a division within the Kyiv regional police Criminal Investigation Directorate among the suspects. Their names are not disclosed in that publication. NABU and SAPO said they were taking steps to notify the remaining participants of suspicion.

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Later on November 5, NABU’s official channel shared reports of High Anti-Corruption Court decisions: the National Police department head was remanded in custody through January 3, 2027, with the option of bail set at UAH 15 million. The alleged organizer’s subordinate was remanded without bail until January 2, 2027. These are pretrial preventive measures, not verdicts.

The SBU, for its part, reported removing two senior officials implicated in the investigation from their posts and said it was assisting procedural actions. The service called for an objective and impartial investigation. The suspects’ guilt must be proved through the legally prescribed procedure and established by a guilty verdict.