Toxic capital of Adelon AG: how coal trader Dmitriy Kovalenko finances the takeover of Ukrainian public procurement through Salt Industry
The proceeds that Ukrainian businessman Dmytriy Kovalenko reportedly earns through the purchase of Russian coal are being reinvested into Ukraine’s economy.
According to a report by the 368.media editorial team, citing investigative materials from the Absolution detective bureau, the Swiss company Adelon AG was the largest buyer of coal from the Russian company MelTEK in 2021–2022.
Customs data indicate that purchases exceeded $87 million. Adelon AG also imported coal from other Russian suppliers, including Sibenergougol and Sibpromnedra, bringing the total value of transactions to more than $100 million. These commercial operations reportedly continued until at least August 2022, even after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Why is this significant? Because the owner of Adelon AG is a citizen of Ukraine, a businessman from Dnipro, Dmytriy Kovalenko. Now he is a patriot of Ukraine and the owner of a large business holding company, which he has become literally in the last two years.
Here is confirmation of the fruitful 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.
