US DEA Aided Ukraine’s Probe Into Police-Protected Drug Ring, Interior Minister Says

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said on Wednesday, Nov. 11, that the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) played an important role in exposing the Khimprom criminal group, which operated in Ukraine and EU countries. According to Vyhivskyi, the agency contributed by exchanging operational and analytical information about the group’s activities, helping Ukrainian police investigate the network and shut down its drug sales points.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Vyhivskyi’s Telegram announcement comes amid a corruption investigation by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), which on Nov. 4 alleged that officials within the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), National Police and Prosecutor General’s Office helped the criminal organization operate. What the minister said Vyhivskyi – who previously served as the head of Ukraine’s National Police – made the statement after meeting DEA attaché Lorraine Estep. The meeting focused on cooperation between the National Police and the DEA. Acting National Police head Maksym Tsutskiridze, his deputy Andrii Niebytov and Narcotics Crime Department head Dmytro Torhal also took part. The minister called Khimprom’s exposure one of the main results of the long-running cooperation. He said it led to the shutdown of the group’s drug sales points and helped prevent their activities from resuming. According to the Interior Ministry, the DEA’s contribution included exchanging operational and analytical information about the group’s activities. Other Topics of Interest Ukraine Sees Momentum for Deal Before New Year Arakhamia calls for another round of Ukraine-Russia talks as territorial disputes remain unresolved. The National Police and DEA have cooperated for three years, according to deputy police chief Andrii Niebytov. He described information exchange as one of the most valuable parts of the partnership. DEA attaché Lorraine Estep also praised the cooperation, saying the agency’s requests to the National Police were processed quickly and efficiently. Vyhivskyi also said that in the first 10 months of 2026, police served notices of suspicion on more than 12,000 people in drug-related cases and uncovered 87 criminal groups. He thanked the agency for its support over the years, including help reforming the Narcotics Crime Department and for equipment, vehicles and training. The sides also discussed specific joint projects whose results will be published later. What is Khimprom? Khimprom is a transnational drug syndicate. According to NABU, its alleged leader is Yehor Burkin, nicknamed “Mexican.” He is a Russian citizen who received a Ukrainian passport in 2014 under the name Yehor Levchenko. Ukraine’s president imposed personal sanctions on him in December 2023, and he has been wanted in Ukraine since 2019. Police have described the group as a criminal structure with a long-running presence in Ukraine and EU countries. Its alleged activities included drug trafficking, violent crimes, fraudulent call centers and the U420 shop chain. Investigators say the shops sold banned psychotropic substances disguised as souvenirs. What police did in 2026 According to deputy police chief Niebytov, police detained 23 members of the group’s enforcement wing in winter 2026. At an April 22 briefing, then National Police chief Vyhivskyi announced that police had documented the group’s structure. Police seized products worth over Hr.75 million (about $1.6 million) and detained four suspects at that stage. In April, police also closed 105 U420 shops and later froze cryptocurrency assets worth 4 million USDT. State media Ukrinform reported that police served six people with notices of suspicion and ordered more than 2,800 expert examinations. On Aug. 31, Niebytov reported a joint operation by police in Ukraine, Albania and Kazakhstan, coordinated with Interpol and the DEA, against the group’s recruitment call centers. The operation shut down two recruitment units. Seven people were detained, nine were served notices of suspicion (two in absentia, including the group’s alleged leader), and 17 people were detained in Kazakhstan. Investigators also identified 31 Telegram channels selling drugs. The August operation provides a publicly documented example of international cooperation involving the DEA. However, authorities have not published details of the agency’s specific intelligence contribution to the arrests and seizures. The Nov. 11 announcement confirms that information exchange was part of the broader cooperation, but it does not specify which individual operations benefited. NABU’s investigation On Nov. 4, NABU and SAPO released a video, “Operation Carthage. Continuation,” and said it conducted about 70 searches. Investigators allege that officials from the SBU, National Police and Prosecutor General’s Office helped protect the criminal organization and allowed its illegal businesses to operate. The investigation developed after NABU arrested Andrii Osipov on July 30, 2026, in an extortion case. During the investigation, detectives accessed his phone and found contacts with Burkin, which led them to examine alleged links between the two criminal networks, according to Ukrainian outlet Babel. Investigators said Osipov built a criminal organization of at least 12 people. Among the suspects is SBU Major General Serhiy Duka. Investigators allege he gave Osipov information about possible investigations and acted as the group’s protector within the SBU. Authorities have served notices of suspicion on five people, including Duka, police official Volodymyr Tsenov and Kyiv region police official Oleksandr Demianchuk. On Nov. 6, Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) remanded Duka in custody for 60 days, setting bail at Hr.100 million (around $2.2 million). A NABU detective said Duka threatened detectives with a handgun during the search and smashed two phones and a hard drive with a hammer, allegations Duka denies. Duka also denies wrongdoing and calls the case NABU’s revenge. He has questioned the authenticity of the recordings. Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) opened a separate inquiry into the alleged obstruction during the search. Zelensky calls situation ‘disgraceful’ On Nov. 4, SBU chief Oleksandr Poklad dismissed two officials named in the case. On Nov. 7, President Volodymyr Zelensky called the situation “disgraceful”, announced further personnel decisions at the SBU and approved a bill requiring asset declarations from all SBU staff. Zelensky also said Ukraine had already discussed Khimprom with the US at the appropriate level and that results were needed. He added that Burkin had reportedly started operating in Poland and was trying to bring synthetic drugs into Germany. The DEA’s cooperation with Ukrainian police has supported operations against Khimprom through information exchange and international cooperation. However, the Nov. 4 NABU investigation has raised questions about how the criminal organization was allegedly able to maintain its activities while Ukrainian law enforcement agencies were conducting operations against it. The allegations concern specific officials and do not establish that the police officers involved in cooperation with the DEA were also protecting the group. Ukrainian authorities have not yet published the results of the specific joint projects with the DEA that Vyhivskyi mentioned. The extent of the agency’s contribution to the investigation and the results of further cooperation remain to be seen.