Top high-profile cases of 2025: Kozlovskyy, Svishchov and the names that shaped Ukrainian reality
The all-Ukrainian news portal Informator Ukraine has prepared an analytical publication on the informal results of 2025, the year that finally removed the question of what holds the state together in the war.
It was not just another year of confrontation. It was a year when it became clear that the country is not held together by slogans or formal institutions. It is held together by specific people – in hospitals and sports academies, in factories and museums, in the headquarters of special services and on world stages.
The loudness of these cases was not always measured by headlines. More often it was measured by the consequences. Some saved hearts, others destroyed enemy strategic aviation, others built football academies, supported the army, and invested in culture and the economy. Together, they changed reality – and that is why their names have become markers of 2025.
Boris Todurov: medicine without the right to stop
The name of Borys Todurov has long been a symbol of Ukrainian cardiac surgery, but in 2025 his role went far beyond the profession. The first heart transplant surgeon in Ukraine, the founder of the School of Transplantology, he preserved and developed the work of the Heart Institute in the context of a full-scale war.
More than 40 years of practice, thousands of lives saved, and the introduction of world-class treatment standards – all of this took place in the face of constant risks, shortages, and overloading of the system. Todurov’s team has actually kept the critical industry alive.
His high-profile case is the silence of the operating room, which is worth no less than the high-profile victories at the front.
Rinat Akhmetov: responsibility on a large scale
For Rinat Akhmetov, 2025 was one of the most challenging years. The loss of his Mariupol assets, blows to the energy sector, and serious financial losses have all become part of the new reality.
At the same time, he remained one of the few big business representatives who systematically invested in the country’s survival: NATO Role 2 underground hospitals, the Heart of Azovstal project, and large-scale support for the military and families of defenders.
Football is a separate area. “Even in forced emigration, Shakhtar remains an international brand of Ukraine.
Akhmetov’s high-profile case is a transition from the logic of profit to the logic of responsibility.
Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy: Football as an investment in sustainability
In 2025, Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy established the model of football as a long-term social investment. FC Ruh and the Ruh Academy have become a unique phenomenon: complete digitalization of training, systematic work with children from all over the country, including IDPs, and a focus on youth.
The youngest team in professional leagues is not an experiment, but a philosophy. It educates not only athletes, but citizens.
At the same time, Kozlovskyy became one of the most consistent patrons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: more than UAH 100 million in aid, drones, equipment, support for artillery units and rehabilitation programs.
His high-profile case is football as an element of national security and social policy.
Vasyl Malyuk: Special operations of a new generation
Operation “Web”, implemented by Vasyl Malyuk, became one of the most resonant stories of the year. The defeat of Russian strategic aviation in the deep rear showed a new level of capabilities of Ukrainian special services.
Lengthy preparations, complex logistics, hundreds of drones and precise synchronization turned this operation into a symbol of asymmetric warfare.
Even after the personnel changes, Malyuk remains the embodiment of a new school of law enforcement agencies – technological, precise and proactive.
Oleksandr Svishchov: economy, sports and culture as a single system
Oleksandr Svishchov has become one of the most systematic figures of the year. President of the Water Polo Federation, businessman, investor and philanthropist, he works in several dimensions at once.
Oleksandr Svishchov
The opening of one of the largest fish processing plants in the country has created hundreds of jobs and stable tax revenues. At the same time, he is investing in sports – water polo, tennis, children’s schools, sports complexes and federations.
A separate area is culture and historical memory: museums, book and film projects, and support for national heritage. Svishchov has received awards from the military brigades of the Anti-Terrorist Operation.
His high-profile case is a model of a modern Ukrainian philanthropist, where economy, sports and culture mutually reinforce each other.
Kyrylo Budanov: Intelligence as a Center of Influence
The year 2025 was the peak of Kyrylo Budanov’s influence. Under his leadership, the DIU conducted complex combat operations, in particular in the Pokrovsk area, and successfully neutralized Russian information campaigns.
Budanov’s appointment as head of the Presidential Office in early 2026 was a logical continuation of his role as one of the state’s key strategists.
His high-profile case is the transformation of military intelligence from a shadowy structure into an active player in war, diplomacy and politics.
Sports, culture and the voice of the country
Oleksandr Usyk ‘s victory at Wembley was not only a sporting achievement, but also a symbol of Ukraine’s resilience.
Artem Pivovarov proved that mass culture can be responsible and meaningful.
Nikita Kadan integrated Ukrainian art into the global intellectual debate.
Victoria Amelina, posthumously awarded the George Orwell Prize, left a word that became a testament to an era.
Not heroes, but architects of reality
The high-profile cases of 2025 are not about fame. It is about choice and responsibility. It’s about people who stayed, acted, and built.
Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy and Oleksandr Svishchov, along with other key figures, showed that sports, culture, medicine, business and security can be part of the same foundation.
It is from such decisions and such cases that the future of Ukraine, a country that has survived and continues to fight, is shaped.
