A school shelter is being built in Vradiivka, Mykolaiv Oblast, at a cost of over UAH 43 million. We examined part of the project’s cost estimate and identified price inflation averaging 120% across 100 items, potentially resulting in over UAH 11 million in overpayments. Some construction materials were priced at three times their market value. As part of the shelter construction project in Vradiivka, the authorities also decided to purchase two iPhone 16 Pro Max smartphones. Apparently, a modern bomb shelter simply cannot function without iPhones. And, of course, the contracting authority ignored the findings and requirements of the State Audit Service of Ukraine (SAS).
UAH 43 Million Shelter in Vradiivka: Construction Dragging On for Over Two Years
In 2024, the Education Department of the Vradiivka Settlement Council signed a contract with Antares-BUD for the construction of a shelter for Lyceum No. 2, worth over UAH 34 million. A significant portion of the funding for this project was provided by European partners through the Ukraine Facility programme.
Construction was initially scheduled for completion by the end of 2025. However, just one month before the deadline, the completion date was pushed back to the end of 2026 through an additional tender worth UAH 9.2 million. Once again, the contract went to Antares-BUD.
Instead of imposing penalties on the contractor for failing to meet the deadline, the contracting authority simply extended the completion date to the end of 2025.
The contractor had claimed it could not complete the work on time due to power outages, the war, a three-week funding delay in November 2024, and disruptions in the supply of construction materials.
As a result, following the second tender, the total cost of the project has risen from the original UAH 34 million to UAH 43 million.
Two iPhones 16 Pro Max: A Signature Bomb Shelter in Vradiivka
In the cost estimate for the additional procurement, we discovered a real gem: two iPhone 16 Pro Max smartphones priced at UAH 41,000 each. That’s UAH 82,000 in total (contract, page 42, item 306).
Did the lyceum’s management really decide to equip the shelter with premium smartphones at taxpayers’ expense? The project designer, BIK Arkhbud LLC, explained that the devices were chosen because they support GSM connectivity and Wi-Fi. Seriously? And here we were, thinking that Wi-Fi and mobile connectivity were exclusive features of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Apparently, a regular smartphone costing UAH 10,000 – 20,000 simply couldn’t pass the rigorous selection process for use in an underground shelter.
Surely, Oksana Vasylyshyna, Head of the Education Department, couldn’t have mistakenly concluded that the shelter simply couldn’t be built without two premium smartphones.
Цікаво, а без Apple ID дітей узагалі пускатимуть до сховища?
Maybe kids will only be allowed into the shelter using Face ID?
Vradiivka Shelter: UAH 11 Million in Potentially Inflated Costs
The iPhones are amusing, but the real money is hidden among the concrete, doors, and other construction materials. We examined 100 items from the cost estimate under the original contract, covering a total of UAH 18.6 million, and identified potential overpricing of UAH 10.1 million. In other words, materials with an estimated market value of UAH 8.5 million were budgeted at UAH 18.6 million – 119% above market prices.
Here are a few examples:
– Metal doors: UAH 65,168 per unit instead of the market price of UAH 19,458 – more than three times the market price.
– Concrete: UAH 10,914 per m³ instead of UAH 4,063 – more than 2.5 times the market price.
– Tactile paving tiles: UAH 415 per unit instead of UAH 174 – more than twice the market price.
Under the second contract, we identified another UAH 964,000 in potential overpricing. As mentioned earlier, the total potential overpricing could exceed UAH 11 million.
Apparently, construction materials in Vradiivka undergo a special transformation: the moment they appear in a shelter construction budget, they instantly become premium products.
Just like the iPhones. And these findings cover only a portion of the items we examined, not the entire project budget.
Following our complaint, law enforcement authorities have already opened a criminal investigation into the suspected price inflation. The actual amount of any overpayments has yet to be established.
State Auditors Demanded Contract Termination, but the Contractor Said No
The State Audit Service of Ukraine reviewed the first procurement and identified violations involving a diesel generator. The contractor had provided false information about the equipment’s local content requirements and later proposed supplying a different generator altogether. The auditors ordered the contracting authority to terminate the contract.
But then something resembling a diplomatic crisis unfolded: the contractor refused to terminate the contract! And the Education Department informed the State Audit Service that complying with its order was impossible.
Quite an interesting system of government oversight. Auditors identify violations and demand that a contract be terminated. The contractor simply says “no.” And the contract stays in place. Oksana Vasylyshyna, Head of the Education Department, explained to us that they had simply decided not to pay for the generator.
For failing to comply with the State Audit Service’s order, Yuliia Rudenko, the official responsible for public procurement at the Education Department, was even willing to pay a UAH 25,500 fine (court case No. 474/957/24).
So, we have iPhones included in a public procurement contract, prices twice as high as market rates, and a willingness to pay UAH 25,500 in fines out of one’s own pocket – all seemingly to avoid terminating the contract with this particular contractor. Of course, we believe these are all just coincidences. And that Oksana Vasylyshyna, Head of the Education Department of the Vradiivka Settlement Council, never favored this contractor and has no personal interest in keeping the contract in place.
An Experienced Contractor And Not Just in Construction
Antares-BUD LLC is far from a newcomer. According to business analytics platforms, the company secured nearly UAH 1 billion in public contracts between 2024 and 2026. In total, the contractor won 15 tenders across Mykolaiv Oblast. Yet it continues to miss deadlines, apparently because it simply does not have enough workers, with the same employees assigned to several major construction projects simultaneously.
The company’s co-owners are Volodymyr Tsutskarev and his daughter, Yuliia Filippova.
The company has previously been mentioned in a criminal investigation involving roof repairs at Lavrivska School.
Following its reconstruction of the Kazka Children’s Town in Mykolaiv, problems with the tiling emerged.
And back in 2011, Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee fined Antares-BUD for anticompetitive collusion during a school procurement tender.
A UAH 90,000 Apartment and a UAH 5,000 Nissan: Officials Have Their Own Surprises
Both shelter construction contracts were signed by Oksana Vasylyshyna, Head of the Education Department. In 2017, she purchased an apartment measuring 50.5 m² in Mykolaiv for UAH 90,300 (literally the price of a few old iPhones or an extremely beat-up second-hand car).
She later sold the same apartment for a whopping UAH 1.5 million. Now that’s a real estate deal most people would love to pull off. A 17-fold increase in value would impress even seasoned real estate agents.
Meanwhile, Mykola Moskalenko, Head of the Vradiivka Community, who also bears political and financial responsibility for the municipality’s procurement decisions, has a little automotive magic of his own in his asset declarations.
In 2023, he purchased a 2008 Nissan Qashqai for just UAH 5,000. Two years later, he sold it for UAH 341,440. That’s more than 68 times the original price!
Today, similar vehicles sell for around UAH 350,000-400,000. Apparently, that Nissan wasn’t sitting in a garage – it was sitting in a high-interest savings account.
Of course, such a price difference does not, in itself, prove any wrongdoing. But we’d really love to know where you can buy cars that cheaply. And why they suddenly become so much more valuable.
Building a “luxury bunker” with European funding and treating a UAH 25,500 fine as the price of ignoring state auditors may seem like a convenient arrangement. But practices like these risk undermining the trust of our European partners and jeopardizing their future support.
Meanwhile, regional authorities and the relevant ministries appear to be turning a blind eye to these suspected irregularities. And it remains to be seen whether the police investigation will ever make it to court.
Without strict oversight and real criminal convictions for officials found guilty of wrongdoing, children may be left waiting indefinitely for the safe shelters they desperately need.
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This publication was prepared within the project supported by the New Democracy Fund