Our Team - UkraineInvest

Executive team

Оleksandr Melnychenko, Acting Executive Director

By the order of the State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated December 7, 2023, the duties of the Executive Director of UkraineInvest were assigned to Oleksandr Melnychenko.

Oleksandr Ivanovych is an Honored Lawyer of Ukraine (1998), who served as a judge in the courts of Kyiv for 12 years. Subsequently, he held leadership positions as Deputy, First Deputy, Acting Chairman of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, and held responsible positions in the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, and the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine.

Under his participation and leadership, over 200 laws and other regulatory acts in the field of competition (antimonopoly) law were developed.

In addition, Oleksandr Melnychenko represented Ukraine in various intergovernmental negotiations, at Global Forums on competition issues, and in the Intergovernmental Expert Group on Competition Policy and Law at UNCTAD.

He is also an Honorary Member of the Association of Lawyers of Ukraine and a member of the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian Bar Association.

Olexandr Melnychenko has been working at UkraineInvest since 2019, initially as the Chief Advisor to the Executive Director, and since September 2023, as the Head of the Legal and Regulatory Policy Department.

Advisors

Andriy Kakusha, Chief Advisor to the Executive Director

Andriy leads the strategic direction of analyzing and attracting investments from the Global East and South, and has been working in the Executive Director’s team since 2020. He has a special area of responsibility for investment cooperation with the People’s Republic of China.

Mr. Kakusha graduated from Donetsk National Technical University with a degree in IT, management and economics. He worked as an investment analyst and business consultant in various fields: IT, financial and banking, energy, mining, agro-processing, and chemical industries. For a long time, he worked in West Africa and China.

Currently, he is an advisor to the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and an independent member of the Supervisory Board of public joint-stock company “Zaporizhzhiaoblenergo”.

Maryna Kytina, Chief Advisor to the Executive Director

Joined the Ukraine Invest team in July 2023.
Previous work experience of 4 years related to the development of electric mobility in Ukraine in the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, namely as an advisor to the Minister and an expert in the Reform Support Office at the MIU.

Graduated from Kryvyi Rih National University, studied at Kyiv-Mohyla Business School.

Has her own YouTube channel dedicated to reviews of electric cars, the host and author of the Green Mobility News program on the First Automotive TV channel, the founder of the Green Mobility Media advertising agency, the co-founder of the first electric vehicle award “E-mobility Award”.

Heads of Departments

Maksym Bondarenko, Head of Investment Attraction and Support Department UkraineInvest

Maksym Bondarenko is the Head of Investment Advisory Department, a qualified corporate lawyer with over 15 years of professional experience.

At UkraineInvest, Maksym leads a team that has supported 10 investment projects worth over USD 1.2 bln, with a focus on agro-processing and green technologies.

Together with the team, Maksym cooperates with global companies and SMEs, advises on investing in Ukraine and on legislation in the field of state support for investment projects with significant investments, coordinates cooperation with regions for joint work on investments, represents the Office in international interagency commissions and at international events, etc.

Recently, they analysed the feasibility study and financial model of a potential applicant in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On State Support of Investment Projects with Significant Investments in Ukraine”.

In addition, the team has been supporting more than 100 foreign and Ukrainian companies that continue to operate in Ukraine in the face of russia’s full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine and has been processing hundreds of requests from those wishing to start investing in the Ukrainian economy after Ukraine’s victory.

maksym.bondarenko@ukraineinvest.gov.ua

Sofia Fedchenko, Head of International Relations and Communications Department

Sofia joined the UkraineInvest team in 2024 as the Head of the International Relations and Communications Department.

Sofia’s team is responsible for the promotion of investment opportunities in Ukraine, international relations in the field of investment, cooperation with central authorities and implementation of investment forums “FIT for Ukraine”.

Sofia specializes in economic diplomacy. Previous experience includes work in the field of strategic communications and reputation management of central authorities, Ukrainian media holdings and charity projects.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Sofia has headed the communications department of the international charity organization “Save Ukraine”. Prior to that, she was the Head of the Communications Department of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. In 2016-2018, she headed the Communications Department of the Office of the President of Ukraine in the field of child protection, and developed the largest charity image project “1+1 media”.

sofia.fedchenko@ukraineinvest.gov.ua