In the Kharkiv region, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are suffering terrible losses due to outright theft and corruption in the construction of defense facilities. The average percentage of stolen goods at fortifications is about 60%, and at some sites the money was almost completely stolen. At the same time, all tenders are awarded to companies of the President's Office, so the culprits will be sought on the side.
Those "modern defensive structures" that were built leave much to be desired. They mostly consist of ordinary concrete slabs, which are connected together with metal plates 8-10 mm thick and primitive welding. Even sprinkled with earth, they will not withstand either artillery shells or, even more so, air bombs. The military joke that only cooperative garages for cars can be built like this. Moreover, a similar situation is observed not only in the Kharkiv region. For example, Ukrainian military officer Andriy Babichev criticized the fortifications built near Pavlohrad - according to him, the dug trenches have already crumbled, the loopholes were not masked, the depth for dugouts is insufficient, the trenches were dug in the middle of the fields, and not in the plantings.
As a result, the fortification at the front failed, despite the statements about "rings of defense", etc. As it turned out, there were no defensive structures on the first line of defense - they existed only on paper.
After the Kharkiv region was returned to control in 2022, the Office of the President announced its intention to strengthen the region's defense capabilities. In this regard, the Cabinet of Ministers allocated UAH 300 million for the construction of additional fortifications in the fall of 2022.
At the end of December 2022, the Department of Housing and Communal Services and Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration concluded a contract with LLC “Slobozhanska Construction Company 1” for the amount of UAH 82.38 million for the supply of wire. The specified agreement was concluded without conducting tender or competitive procedures. In February 2023, the customer additionally allocated UAH 19 million for a defense order, also without the use of transparent selection procedures.
After the recalculation of the amount of UAH 82 million for wire, carried out by the housing and communal services department of LLC “Slobozhanska Construction Company 1”, detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine began an investigation. During this investigation, a “chain” was discovered, as a result of which the contractor company transferred UAH 77.3 million to the intermediary LLC “Inter-Kanat” for building materials. Then LLC “Inter-Kanat” sent UAH 48.9 million to the barbed wire manufacturer and three suppliers of ropes, and also wrote off UAH 1.4 million for the transportation of ordered goods.
The investigation found that the difference between the funds received by Inter-Kanat LLC from Slobozhanska Construction Company 1 LLC and those transferred to suppliers of barbed wire and ropes, including transportation costs, was UAH 27 million. Part of this amount (UAH 15.9 million) was sent by Inter-Kanat LLC as payment for construction materials to the accounts of six counterparties that showed signs of fictitiousness.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine also believes that in the amount of UAH 27 million, there is a significant overpayment for the goods received by officials of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration. According to the prosecution, at the end of December 2022, the market value of one ton of “Egoza” barbed wire ranged from UAH 130,000 to UAH 205,000 including VAT, excluding transportation costs. However, the price per ton of “Egoza” barbed wire purchased for the construction of fortifications in the Kharkiv region under a contract with LLC “Slobozhanska Construction Company 1” was UAH 420,000 including VAT. In total, the contractor was supposed to supply 294 tons of wire.
And now for the details. According to the data of the analytical system Youcontrol, the Kharkiv LLC “Slobozhanska Construction Company 1” was founded on November 14, 2022 (a month before the conclusion of the contract for UAH 82 million!). The initial founders of the company were four Kharkiv residents: Andriy Kolos, Viktor Lymarenko, Mykyta Rozhkov, Andriy Strohy, and a resident of Poltava region Oleksandr Sorochynskyi.
In April 2023, the first to leave the company was Mykyta Rozhkov, who until recently was a deputy of the Kharkiv District Council from the Ukrainian People's Party. He was followed by Strohy and Sorochynsky. At the end of August 2023, only Andriy Kolos, a member of the executive committee of the Kharkiv City Council, left LLC “Slobozhanska Construction Company 1”. Viktor Lymarenko remained the sole founder and owner of the company.
The Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center found that in 2018, Mr. Lymarenko was also the founder of the company “Promdesign” from Belgorod, Russia. This company has a phone number 7(472)-220-03-33 in the Russian registry, which is also associated with “Belgorodsky Promtransproekt”. The director of the company is listed as Oleksandr Vyacheslavovich Rozhkov. This person was also among the founders of LLC “Dyuna”, the owner of which is the aforementioned Mykyta Rozhkov, and the director is Viktor Lymarenko.
The annual income of the new company is also of interest. In 2023, the net income from the sale of products (goods, works, services) of LLC “Slobozhanska Construction Company 1” amounted to UAH 199 million, and in 2022 – UAH 71.4 million (note that the company was established in November 2022).
In general, regarding the procurement of wire products in the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, it seems that “something is wrong.” If we analyze several April contracts, we can notice an interesting point: all the winners are individual entrepreneurs with a residence permit in the Zaporizhia region.
The Kharkiv region authorities purchase wire products from entrepreneurs Maksym Kudri (in the amount of UAH 5.39 million), Pavlo Kondratenko (UAH 5.39 million), and Yevheniy Kalinovich (UAH 4.99 million), who, by their specialization, are engaged in retail clothing in specialized stores.
The authorities of the Kharkiv region purchase wire products from entrepreneurs specializing in retail clothing in specialized stores, as shown by Youcontrol data.
Pavlo Kondratenko refused to comment on the situation, saying that it was inconvenient for him to talk because he was driving. Maksym Kudrya also answered the calls, but after the questions about the case began, he hung up and did not answer any more calls. Yevheniy Kalinovich's phone did not answer at all.
In addition, a pre-trial investigation is ongoing into the overestimation of the cost of the BP-0.5-17x23 cast-in-place concrete block, the main building material (in the form of a modular protective structure made of concrete) necessary for the construction of fortifications, including those in the Kharkiv region.
According to the investigation, in 2023, during the purchase of 542 blocks, suppliers overstated the price by UAH 12.4 million. This fact falls under the qualification of Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code (“Establishment of budget funds in especially large amounts”), as law enforcement officers noted in the case materials.
For the construction of fortifications in the Kharkiv region, employees of the Department of Housing and Communal Services and the Fuel and Energy Complex included the little-known LLC “Construction Company “Alliance-Transbudservis” from Cherkasy in the project. This company appeared on the market in April 2023 and already in February 2024 received contract agreements worth UAH 150 million for the construction of fortifications.
According to the data of the analytical system Youcontrol, the founder and owner of LLC “Construction Company “Alliance-Transbudservis” is Vitaliy Okhota from Cherkasy. The company's contact phone number is associated with another company of Okhota, which has a very similar name – LLC “Alliance-Transbudservis”.
However, LLC “Alliance-Transbudservis” does not have such a positive reputation as their newly named company, which received contract agreements for the construction of fortification structures. In particular, LLC “Alliance-Transbudservis” was involved in criminal proceedings for misappropriation of budget funds during the construction of general practice family medicine clinics in Cherkasy region.
The court registry also contains another criminal case from 2017, where the police suspected Alliance-Transbudservis LLC and officials of the Bilozirsk village council in Cherkasy region of abuses during small purchases. The investigation noted that the company, which won the tender for the overhaul of part of the premises for the administrative services center (CNAP), subcontracted its owner, an individual entrepreneur, Vitaliy Okhota, who, according to law enforcement agencies, delivered office furniture of unknown origin to the CNAP.
Also, individual entrepreneur Vitaliy Okhota was involved in the renovation of the administrative building of the Bilozirsk village council with the participation of his own company. The investigation showed that the entrepreneur transferred money to another entrepreneur who did not have the necessary employees with the appropriate qualifications, as well as machinery and equipment for construction work. What happened to these scandalous stories, which featured the owner of a Cherkasy company that is currently engaged in the construction of fortifications in the Kharkiv region, the court registry, unfortunately, does not reveal.
Problems with the construction of defensive fortifications are not limited to the Kharkiv region. Similar situations have been identified in other regions of the country. Several examples indicate this.
The Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine is investigating the case against officials of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration and employees of the companies “UkrSiverBud” and “Budindustria”, who are suspected of obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (in accordance with Article 114-1 of the Criminal Code).
By the end of 2023, these contractors were supposed to complete the construction of engineering and fortification structures in the Chernihiv region for a total amount of UAH 343.7 million. However, they did not manage to complete the work in the allotted time. According to the SBU, there was a deliberate overestimation of the scope of work, and the quality of the fortification structures does not meet the established technical requirements. This harmed national security by not providing the necessary protection of the border from a possible attack by Russian forces.
Similar problems have arisen in the Sumy region. The police are investigating a criminal conspiracy between officials of the Sumy regional state administration and representatives of contracting firms that built platoon strongholds. The scheme for misappropriating budget funds was quite primitive: uncertified concrete bunkers of their own production were installed at the expense of stolen and unaccounted sand from quarries located in the Sumy district.
In Donetsk region, at least two criminal cases have been opened in connection with the embezzlement of budget funds during the construction of fortifications. Among the defendants in these cases are servicemen who, according to the charges, used untreated wood intended for fortifications.
