“Quiet Haven” Lost Its Inviolability: Attack on Dubai Reveals Elite Apartments of Ukrainian Ex-Occupants

A massive Iranian drone and ballistic missile attack on Dubai on February 28, 2026, caused serious damage to the city’s infrastructure, hitting the international airport, ports, hotels and residential areas. The Emirati air defense systems were able to intercept most of the targets, but missile and drone debris still penetrated the defenses and caused damage to some elite areas. In particular, this happened in the Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina, causing large-scale fires and partial destruction of buildings. Both commercial properties and private apartments were damaged, making life much more difficult for local residents and visitors.

Journalists found out that among the affected locations were luxury apartments owned by former Ukrainian high-ranking officials. The investigation showed that the assets of these individuals, hidden for years, including expensive real estate on the Palm Jumeirah and in Dubai Marina, were in the direct hit zone, which provided journalists with a unique opportunity to recreate the schemes for purchasing and owning luxury real estate outside Ukraine.

Among them was the Dassault Falcon 900C (RA-09617), previously used by Viktor Yanukovych for negotiations in 2022, as well as the Mitsubishi Challenger 850 and Bombardier Global 5000, associated with the families of Russian officials and businessmen.

The most dramatic events unfolded on the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah. A series of explosions in the evening of February 28 led to a fire at the five-star Fairmont The Palm hotel, injuring four people, and the hotel administration increased security measures. Journalists discovered that the apartments of the family of the former Minister of Ecology of Ukraine and founder of Burisma Group, Mykola Zlochevsky, are located next to the burning hotel.

Mykola Zlochevsky, who headed the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources in the government of Viktor Yanukovych in 2010-2012, was previously a people’s deputy from the Party of Regions and at the same time founded the gas production company Burisma Group. Journalists have established that in July 2019, he purchased two apartments in Dubai in the W Residences Dubai – The Palm residential complex, located on the coast of the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah.

The total area of ​​these objects exceeds 1,700 square meters, and their cost at the time of purchase was estimated at almost $11 million. Data from the Dubai Unlocked journalistic investigation indicate that these apartments were not rented out and were used by the Zlochevsky family as private housing.

During the trial in the case of an attempt to bribe NABU detectives, which involved a record bribe of six million dollars, the ownership of these apartments was transferred to the daughter of the former minister, Hanna Zlochevsky. She remained the owner of the property as of 2024.

Also in Dubai Marina, the Sadaf 6 complex houses three apartments of Svetlana Yemelyanova, a former deputy of the Donetsk City Council from the Party of Regions. The total value of the property exceeds $1.8 million, and the acquisition was carried out gradually between 2014 and 2018.

In addition, the Ocean Heights skyscraper, which is among the five tallest buildings in Dubai, houses apartments belonging to the family of former People’s Deputy Vasyl Hrytsak. He held the position of Deputy Head of the State Migration Service and was one of the key lobbyists of the Unified State Automated Passport System (UDAPS) consortium. During the purchase of real estate in the UAE, Hrytsak headed a group of deputies responsible for interparliamentary relations with the United Arab Emirates.

According to journalists, during 2010–2011, Vasyl Hrytsak’s family purchased two apartments in the United Arab Emirates. The first property is located in the residential complex The Fairways North Tower: the apartments with an area of ​​72 square meters were purchased by Vasyl Hrytsak himself in 2010 for 216 thousand dollars. Nine years later, in 2019, the ownership of this apartment was transferred to his eldest son Igor Hrytsak, who remained the owner of the home as of 2024.

The family purchased another property in 2011 in the Ocean Heights skyscraper, one of the famous residential complexes in the Dubai Marina area. The area of ​​​​these apartments is 123 square meters, and the cost at the time of purchase was estimated at approximately $ 500 thousand. The owners of this home are the wife of the former official, Natalia Hrytsak, and their youngest son.

Thus, the total cost of the two apartments that the family purchased in the UAE exceeds $ 700 thousand. Both properties are located in areas that were among the locations that suffered from the effects of falling debris during the February 28 attack.

One ​​of the most high-profile cases of the disclosure of elite real estate of Ukrainian former officials concerns Dmytro Rakhmatullin, who owns 16 apartments in the Ferretti Luxury Beach Residence complex on the coast of Jebel Ali. Journalists found that Rakhmatullin, who previously held the position of head of the Kyiv Parking Inspectorate and then acted as director of the Kyiv City State Administration’s municipal motor transport enterprise, had been hiding his properties in electronic declarations for the past three years.

According to the Dubai registry, the total area of ​​the apartments is 2,255 square meters, and their approximate cost is estimated at half a billion hryvnias. However, in response to a journalist’s inquiry, Rakhmatullin denied owning real estate in Dubai, although official records indicate otherwise. It is in the Jebel Ali area that the port is located, which was damaged by falling debris on February 28, highlighting the unpredictable risk to hidden property.

Another person in the journalistic investigation was Oleg Kornilov, a former deputy prosecutor of the Odessa region and head of the investigative unit of the regional prosecutor’s office. He purchased three apartments in Dubai at different stages – two studio apartments in the premium complex Jumeirah Bay X1 Tower in 2011-2012 and one apartment in Aykon City-Tower B in 2016, which was under construction.

Journalists found out that the areas of the apartments are 47, 38 and 48 square meters, and the total cost exceeds $ 400 thousand. Some of the objects were rented out, the total income exceeded $ 100 thousand, and apartment sales in 2020 and 2023 are recorded in open sources. Such details made it possible to establish real financial flows and identify discrepancies between official income and acquired property.

Journalists also reported that the wanted people’s deputy from the “Trust” group, Serhiy Shakhov, has been living in a rented elite apartment in Dubai with an area of ​​292 square meters since July 2022, the annual rent of which reaches about 100 thousand dollars. His children study at the prestigious Kent College Dubai, where expenses per student exceed 20 thousand dollars per year. At the same time, NABU and SAPO in 2025 raised new suspicions of laundering over 300 million hryvnias, which included the discovery of apartments and other property in the UAE, the total estimated losses to the state exceed 700 million hryvnias.

The journalistic investigation also includes the family of the People’s Deputy from the “Servant of the People” party, Hennadiy Kasai, who purchased four apartments in Dubai in 2022–2023, the total cost of which is about a million dollars. At the same time, the official income of Polina’s daughter and Alexander’s nephew is significantly lower than the cost of the purchase, and the MP himself and his wife declared income for three years of only about $60,000, which creates an obvious discrepancy between earnings and expenses for luxury real estate.

Thus, the attack on Dubai and the fall of missile and drone debris completely changed the situation for the hidden capital of former high-ranking officials. Objects that had remained untouched for a long time now found themselves at risk, and assets worth millions were exposed to the international community. The attack on Dubai became an accidental catalyst for the disclosure of multi-million hidden investments abroad, which had eluded law enforcement and the public for years.