Yan Olegovich Yatsishin — a native of Nikopol, whom Ukrainian law enforcement agencies linked in 2018 to the leadership of the local ‘White Brotherhood’ gang (Ukrainian: ‘Біле братство’; in police reports from 2025 — ‘Біле братерство’). The nicknames ‘Yatsyk’ and ‘Baty’ appear in publications. In publicly available court records, Yatsyshyn is listed as a defendant in the Nikopol case № 182/6138/25 on drugs. Another major incident relates to the shooting at a car near Zhytomyr in 2018. [1] [4] [7] [11] [12]
2016. Nikopol: the arrest and initial investigations
On 16 April 2016, LB.ua reported on Yatsishin’s arrest in Nikopol. Ilya Kiva, then head of the National Police’s Department for Combating Drug Crime, publicly linked him to Vadim Velikodny, known as ‘Waldemar’, and claimed that Yatsishin’s network operated in Nikopol, Margarets and what was then Ordzhonikidze (now Pokrov), as well as supplying drugs to Zaporizhzhia. The publication cited Kiva as the source of this information. [2]
According to hromadske, following a search in April and the discovery of methamphetamine, Yatsyshyn was informed that he was suspected of drug production, an investigation into which had been launched in December 2015 under Articles 307 and 309 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In another incident in April, he denied that the substance found belonged to him. The publication reported that he had not been served with a notice of suspicion in relation to that incident. Earlier, on 10 February, a weapon was discovered in a car that had been stopped at a checkpoint. According to the same publication, Yatsishin stated that neither the car nor the weapon belonged to him. [1]
Double murder in Nikopol. Yatsishin is a witness
On 10 February 2016, Rizvan Tapaev and Ilya Bodnar were shot dead in Nikopol. When the court considered the issue of the detention of the accused, Roman Zhmurko and Denis Podolyak, in October 2018, Yatsyshyn and Ruslan Lisanov took part in the hearing via video link from the Zhytomyr remand centre. Hromadske, whose journalists were covering the hearing, noted that both were appearing as witnesses in the case. Yatsishyn refused to give evidence without a lawyer. At the time, he was being held in the remand centre in connection with another case relating to a shooting near Zhytomyr. [3]
2018–2019. The shooting near Zhytomyr, bail and re-arrest
On 22 July 2018, near Oliivka in the Zhytomyr region, a car carrying three people was shot at. A female passenger sustained a gunshot wound. Law enforcement officers detained Ruslan Lisanov. On 28 July, following a road traffic accident on the Kyiv–Chop motorway, Yatsishin was detained. Later, as reported by hromadske, citing the investigation, he was identified as the alleged organiser of the attack, whilst Lisanov was identified as the alleged perpetrator. [5] [7]
On 30 July, the Koroliivskyi District Court of Zhytomyr ordered Yatsishin to be remanded in custody. In December, the court of first instance set bail at 500,000 UAH. The President of the Zhytomyr Court of Appeal subsequently explained publicly that on 27 December, the panel had released Yatsishin in the courtroom after concluding that his detention in the preceding days had been unlawful. The consideration of the prosecutor’s appeal continued. This sequence of events is important for understanding the two different decisions regarding the preventive measure. [1] [5] [6]
After failing to appear in court on several occasions, the police issued a warrant for Yatsishyn’s arrest. On 24 May 2019, he was detained in Dnipro, hromadske reported, citing the regional police. In August of the same year, the Zhytomyr District Court changed his pre-trial detention measure to house arrest. In the case file № 278/220/19 A dissenting opinion by the judge dated 28 August regarding the venue for the proceedings has been published. On 15 June 2023, the court stayed the proceedings pending the discharge of one of the two defendants from military service. The names have been redacted in the ruling. No subsequent decision on the merits of this case has been found in the public sources examined. [7] [8] [9] [14]
The ‘White Brotherhood’. What the police reported in 2018 and 2025
In September 2018, the National Police reported 52 authorised searches in Nikopol and the arrest of four people as part of an investigation into the activities of the ‘White Brotherhood’. Law enforcement officials alleged drug trafficking and alleged complicity on the part of certain police officers. In its report on the operation, hromadske, citing the First Deputy Head of the National Police, named Yatsyshyn as the alleged leader of the group. [4] [10]
On 7 March 2025, the Department of Strategic Investigations announced a new operation targeting an organisation of the same name. According to the police, the network operated in Nikopol and Pokrov, had separate units for procurement, packaging and distribution, and supplied up to 35,000 doses to the market each month. The police estimated the group’s monthly revenue at over 12 million UAH. In March, the department announced that 16 individuals were under suspicion, and in September, it reported that an indictment had been filed against 11 people. These are the figures and milestones in the investigation into the group. Police reports do not name individuals nor do they attribute the entire stated volume to a single person. [11] [15]
Case No. 182/6138/25. Where Yatsishin is named by name
According to publicly available court records relating to the case № 182/6138/25 Yan Olegovich Yatsishin and Ruslan Grigoryevich Lisanov are listed among the defendants. The case is being heard at the Nikopol City and District Court. In a ruling dated 28 August 2026, the court stated that it was considering the consolidated indictments in cases Nos. 12024041360000095 and 12025040000001728. The charges in the case include Articles 255 and 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which relate to a criminal organisation and the illicit trafficking of drugs. [12] [13] [16]
The rulings dated 7 October 2026 concern procedural matters, including pre-trial measures and the suspension of proceedings in respect of one of the defendants for the duration of his military service. The names have been redacted in the publicly available texts of these rulings. The public case file indicates that the case is pending. No verdict on the case was found in the publicly available materials examined. [16] [17] [18]
Involvement in ‘Khimprom’, according to a source close to the editorial team
According to a source at the KARTEL KHIMPROM editorial office, Yan Olegovich Yatsishin was involved in the activities of ‘Khimprom’. In the publicly available police and court documents examined by the editorial team, this connection is not documented. [4] [10] [13]
Related topics — A chronology of ‘Khimpom’ in the KARTEL KHIMPROM archive.
