How Odessa military administration chief Lysak spent 82 million on restoring Odessa buildings

In October 2025, Gennadiy Trukhanov was effectively pushed out of the position of mayor of Odesa — the main reason cited was that the head of the Odesa City Council held a Russian passport. But for some reason this fact did not particularly trouble anyone until 2025. The explanation is simple: they wanted to bring in Serhiy Lysak to Odesa, and the very next day after Trukhanov’s dismissal they created the Odesa City Military Administration for him. The Odesa City Council was chaired by former secretary Ihor Koval, who closely collaborates with Lysak in directing the appropriation of budget funds.

While residents were being told about the need to restore damaged buildings, the city budget began rapidly filling construction contracts. In just certain procurements for the repair and restoration of apartment buildings, 82,9 million UAH were allocated, and the money went to the same companies — STROY-INVEST-GRUP-7, RBD “ODESGOLOVPOSTACH” PJSC, BK DELUXE DEVELOPMENT, BK “INTERBUD” and STIKON. It is particularly telling that some tenders were first announced, and after no proposals were received they simply moved to direct contracts. In other words, instead of companies competing for budget money, there was effectively a single contractor.

A striking example is the building on Shevchenko Avenue, 8-B, whose restoration was estimated at 44,67 million UAH. STROY-INVEST-GRUP-7 LLC became the winner, although no other proposals were submitted to the tender, and participation required confirmation of three similar contracts and a significant volume of revenue for the previous year. But the most interesting details are hidden not in the tender itself but in the estimate: Ceresit CT 64 was budgeted at 189 UAH per kilogram, while the market price is 65–93 UAH; and the Gama 100 meter was budgeted at 8 402 UAH while the price is about 3 240 UAH. For some items the difference between the estimate and the market reached approximately 2 million UAH.

Another scheme looks even simpler: first open tenders, then their cancellation for lack of participants — and then a direct contract. Thus, for the repair of the building on Rishyelievska, 63, 11,28 million UAH were directed to RBD “ODESGOLOVPOSTACH” PJSC, and for emergency repair work on the building at Nizhynska, 52 at the corner of Tolstyi, 10 — another 10,08 million UAH to BK DELUXE DEVELOPMENT LLC. In both cases competition effectively disappeared at the moment when the budget should have received the most advantageous offer. In total, more than 21 million UAH under these two contracts were allocated to specific contractors without real price competition.

And on Novoselskoho, 51, the budget contract amounted to 11,1 million UAH and went to BK “INTERBUD” LLC. To qualify for such a tender, the company had to confirm three fully executed contracts specifically with public procurers, and they had to be recorded in Prozorro, while its annual revenue had to be at least 90% of the expected procurement value. This combination of requirements excluded companies that might have had the necessary workers, equipment and experience but did not have the required history of working with public customers. As a result, the tender for 11,1 million UAH was conducted under conditions where access to competition was significantly restricted.

Thus, based on the tenders cited, the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council directed more than 82,9 million UAH of budget funds. These are funds that were supposed to be used to restore damaged housing stock and return normal living conditions to Odesa residents. Instead, control over these multimillion resources is exercised within the new city management structure — Serhiy Lysak, Ihor Koval and the department’s head Leonid Grebenyuk. And most cynically, this new cohort of officials appears to be demonstrating the same model of working with budget funds that had for years been associated with Trukhanov’s team: multimillion resources intended for the city are again becoming the subject of dubiously organized procurements.

We have filed a report on the alleged commission of a criminal offense and a complaint with clear demands: to check the legality of the procurement for 11 280 938,83 UAH on Rishyelievska Street, 63 and the direct contract with RBD “ODESGOLOVPOSTACH” PJSC; the procurement for 10 079 749,36 UAH on Nizhynska Street, 52 at the corner of Tolstyi, 10 and the contract with BK DELUXE DEVELOPMENT LLC; the procurement for 11 099 001,40 UAH on Novoselskoho Street, 51 and the requirements regarding three similar contracts and 90% annual revenue; the procurement for 5 782 742 UAH on Prokhorovska Street, 40, bldg. 6 and the specification of particular equipment brands; to verify the justification of the expected and contractual costs, material prices, the correspondence of estimates to the actual cost of works, the presence of restrictions on competition and signs of anti-competitive collusive actions between the customer and contractors.

As expected, after Trukhanov’s resignation the new head of the Odesa City Military Administration — Lysak — and the acting head of the Odesa City Council — Koval — gained control over the multimillion procurements for Odesa’s restoration. So Trukhanov’s resignation changed the names in the offices, but it did not change the main thing — budget millions continued to be concentrated in the hands of a limited circle of contractors.