While Ukrainians are forced to adapt to power outages and heat shortages, another reality persists in the state energy sector - a system of closed procurements, where billions of dollars are distributed without competition and public control. This concerns a series of contracts concluded in 2024-2025 by structures associated with Ukrhydroenergo PJSC, which, according to journalistic publications and public sources, were executed bypassing the Prozorro electronic system.
As noted in open materials, procurement was carried out through direct contracts using paragraph 13 of the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1178. This paragraph provides for the possibility of simplified procedures in wartime, however, according to experts from the anti-corruption environment, in a number of cases it became a tool for concealing estimates and eliminating competitors from participating in tenders.
The central contractor for this system, according to the investigation, was LLC “BC “Adamant”. During the period 2024–2025, the company received contracts worth over 5.1 billion hryvnias. The largest of them — a contract for 4.36 billion hryvnias for the construction of protective structures for the Dnipro HPP — was concluded with one participant without a competition.
Some analysts point out that immediately after signing this contract, BC Adamant began publicly looking for workers through an announcement about recruiting construction workers, which calls into question the company's availability of its own resources and ability to perform work on critical infrastructure facilities.
A similar picture, according to available information, was observed at the Kremenchuk HPP, where almost half a billion hryvnias were spent through non-public contracts in 2025. The details of these contracts remain closed, and the public does not have access to the estimates and the list of actual contractors.
In the public sphere, these purchases are associated with decisions made during the leadership of the Ministry of Energy and management of Ukrhydroenergo. However, there are currently no official convictions or court decisions in this case. Representatives of companies and state bodies have not yet published detailed explanations regarding the reasons for the use of closed procedures and the selection of specific contractors.
Anti-corruption activists emphasize that the use of military exceptions should be clearly limited to critical needs, as billions of hryvnias of public funds and the security of strategic energy system facilities are at stake.
