The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has issued a suspicion notice to a man for commisssioning a physical attack on a blogger from Chernihiv oblast, according to a statement by the SBU.
The SBU reported that the person who commissioned the attack instructed the perpetrators to shoot the blogger in the limbs with a firearm and douse him with sulfuric acid. The attempt was prevented at the preparation stage.
The blogger in question is probably Oleksandr Lesyk, based in Pryluky. On 28 August, Pryluky City Council official Yevhenia Averianova reported that Lesyk had been severely beaten and hospitalised in serious condition. In a video posted later, the blogger, showing no visible injuries, claimed the incident had been a “special operation” to save his life.
Lesyk has consistently and sharply criticised local authorities for more than a year, most notably Pryluky Mayor Olha Popenko, City Council deputies, and communal companies. Together with Yevhenia Averianova, he filmed content criticising Popenko for her ties to MP Valeriy Dubil (“Batkivshchyna” party), and reproted on the case against the Mayor’s son, Yaroslav Popenko, who is accused of drug trafficking. On 28 August, the day Lesyk was attacked, the Pryluky City-District Court suspended proceedings in Popenko’s case due to his being drafted into the UAF.
The attack was most likely commissioned by Oleh Averianov, a former deputy head of the State Emergency Service and Yevhenia Averianova’s ex-husband. This aligns with the description of the suspect provided by the SBU: the Chernihiv Court of Appeal sentenced Averianov to seven years in prison for car theft in 2024, and allegedly has also commissioned attacks on the chairman and two other judges of that court. As reported by Ekonomichna Pravda, Oleh Averianov and Valeriy Dubil are business partners.
According to the SBU, the suspect (presumably Oleh Averianov) also organised and sponsored the preparation of other high-profile crimes while hiding abroad, such as the sabotage of a construction crane near a residential building in Chernihiv, an explosion at an enlistment office in the Prykarpattia region, and arson attacks on the private homes of multiple judges. All of these crimes were prevented at the preparation stage.
The individual is charged with a completed attempt at a terrorist act, attempted deliberate grievous bodily harm, preparations to destroy a judge’s property through arson or explosion, and large-scale embezzlement. The investigation is being carried out by the Kyiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office.
