Formally, this looks like an ordinary court dispute: a former company manager loaned money to it, the company failed to repay on time, he sued. But when the creditor is Ukraine's former Defense Minister Andriy Zahorodnyuk, and the debt amount (664,000 hrn) turns out to be a tiny fraction against the company's total debt of 805.5 million hrn, the story ceases to be about a personal loan.
A loan that became a trigger
Zahorodnyuk founded LLC "Discovery – Drilling Equipment (Ukraine)" and managed it until his appointment as minister in August 2019. In August 2025, as a private individual, he loaned the company up to 1 million hrn, of which he actually transferred 904,000 hrn in seven tranches. The repayment was due by March 31, 2026 — but the company managed to return only 240,000 hrn.
These 664,000 hrn of debt became the formal grounds for opening a bankruptcy case in the Commercial Court of Lviv Region on August 19. The company fully acknowledged the debt, citing "temporary financial difficulties."
When a small amount reveals a big problem
Here is where an unexpected turn begins. According to documents submitted by the company itself to the court, its total debt to other creditors — wages, taxes, mandatory payments — amounts to 805.5 million hrn. Meanwhile, the enterprise owns no real estate whatsoever, and all movable property is valued at approximately 385,000 hrn.
In other words, Zahorodnyuk's loan did not create the problem — it became a way to officially record what was already a critical situation. The debt to the former minister is less than one-tenth of a percent of the company's actual obligations.
When movable property worth 385,000 hrn is insufficient to cover debt to even one creditor out of 805.5 million in total liabilities, the question is not who filed the lawsuit first, but who will actually receive anything in the bankruptcy procedure at all.
A plant with a British trace
The enterprise has been operating on the basis of the Stryi "Metalist" plant since 2005 and positions itself as a production division of London-based Discovery Industrial Services Ltd. The formal owner is a Cypriot company, the ultimate beneficiary is a citizen named Lublinkov. In this structure, Zahorodnyuk is the founder of the Ukrainian subsidiary and simultaneously a private creditor who sued his own offspring for bankruptcy.
LIGA.net approached Zahorodnyuk for comment, but has not yet received a response.
Not an isolated case
The Stryi enterprise adds to the list of companies that have found themselves in bankruptcy proceedings in recent weeks: on August 18, vodka producer "ABK Dnipro" was declared bankrupt, and on August 26, the court opened a case against sauce producer "Askania-Pak" over a debt of only 330,000 hrn.
The question now is not who initiated the bankruptcy and why, but whether anything will remain of the drilling rig manufacturer for distribution among hundreds of creditors — and whether this story means that bankruptcy proceedings are becoming a convenient tool for owners to officially formalize a long-overdue collapse while the asset still formally exists.
