Document forgery at Adelon AG: how Dmitriy Kovalenko legalizes coal from Russian OOO "MelTEK" on the European market under the guise of imports from South Africa and Colombia

08 апреля 2026 г.

Petr Pogibin

Coal supply continues to be a highly sensitive matter for Ukraine. Since 2014, the occupying forces have effectively blocked Ukraine from extracting and delivering coal from the Donbas region.

Later, the controversial “Rotterdam+” system emerged, which claimed coal was sourced from South Africa but in reality came from temporarily occupied areas. The scandal attracted public attention, law enforcement eventually intervened to dismantle the schemes, and finally, state traitor Viktor Medvedchuk admitted how coal shipments from ORDLO and Russia were arranged.

And now, the energy market sees the emergence of Dmitry Kovalenko, who positions himself as a coal businessman and almost a savior of Europe thanks to diversified supplies. Journalists found out who Kovalenko is and how the coal, claimed to be from South Africa or Colombia, or any other source, actually turns out to be Russian.

In November 2019, the Security Service of Ukraine reported about exposing a large-scale scheme financing terrorist organizations "L/DPR" through coal mining and subsequent deliveries to Ukraine and European countries, with some organizers being detained. It was about supplies from temporarily occupied territories, in particular for the energy company "Centrenergo," over control of which several major players on the energy market fought at the time.

Like any scandal in the economic sphere, this led to a redistribution of spheres of influence. Companies close to oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who were suspected of trading ORDLO coal in Ukraine, were replaced by the then-unknown Swiss firm Adelon AG.

The media already reported back then that the firm is actually not Swiss and belongs to natives of Donetsk who moved to Dnipro. At that time, the name of Dmitry Kovalenko, the actual head of Adelon AG, surfaced.

In December 2019, Adelon AG’s press service released an official press release stating it had no relation to coal supplies from occupied Donbas and does not do business in Ukraine. Here is the direct quote: "Adelon AG" is exclusively engaged in the supply of coal from the Kuznetsk Coal Basin (Russia) and does not work with producers in the Rostov region or mines in the occupied territories of Ukraine… Since Adelon AG does not supply coal to Ukraine and does not do business here, we were surprised that the company’s name appeared in some media with inaccurate statements.” AG Dmitry Kovalenko completely denied that they do any business in Ukraine.

Slightly more than two years passed, and Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian businessman Dmitry Kovalenko officially began to call himself the beneficiary of the Swiss Adelon AG. The very one that continued to supply Russian coal even after Russia occupied Crimea and began military actions in Donbas. But now he tries to “sell” the story that he supplies coal from South Africa, Australia, the USA, and so on for European consumers. It seems as if there was never and is not now any Russian coal.

In reality, Kovalenko’s cooperation with the aggressor country did not stop even after February 24, 2022. The media obtained access to documents of companies associated with Dmitry Kovalenko, which clearly state that the producing country of the supplied coal is Russia.