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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
If you still think restoring shell-damaged cities requires licenses, construction equipment, and engineering expertise, Odesa officials are ready to prove otherwise convincingly. To receive tens of millions of budgetary hryvnias directly without bidding, it’s quite enough to know how to arrange floral compositions, be the godparent of the head of a municipal enterprise, or simply live in the neighboring room of a dormitory with the right official. While ordinary municipal workers patch roofs on camera for a modest rate, streams of direct contracts worth comfortable sums up to one and a half million hryvnias flow through front men, relatives, and pensioners who don’t even suspect their own “development success.”
Sister, uncle, friend, relative. Multi-million contracts for repairing Odesa buildings damaged by Russian attacks were, for years, awarded to businessmen connected to the leadership of Odesa municipal enterprises. The investigative editorial team of Suspilne analyzed reconstruction contracts in Odesa that were concluded with individual entrepreneurs (FOPs) and called those whose ties to officials we confirmed. Some of them were surprised to learn that, on paper, they had been rebuilding the city and had received millions of hryvnias for it.
Repairs without tenders
Reconstruction isn’t only about large tenders worth tens of millions of hryvnias. Many deals are concluded for relatively small amounts: for example, window replacements, roof repairs, and installing doors in buildings damaged by Russian attacks.
In Odesa, Suspilne found that most reconstruction contracts were concluded for amounts up to one and a half million hryvnias — expenditures below that threshold allow services to be procured directly, i.e., without using the electronic bidding system.
For years this allowed the contracting authorities, the main one being the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council, to choose contractors themselves. Without an auction, without competition, and without the opportunity for other participants to offer their services and lower the price.
The department concluded reconstruction contracts directly with 15 individual entrepreneurs. Aside from brief reports about these deals, the department did not publish anything on Prozorro: neither contracts nor detailed information about the FOPs, nor cost estimates.
In this investigation we will not tell you about every entrepreneur we found — only about those whose connections to officials we have proven.
In real life — a florist; on paper — a builder
On her social networks, Odesa resident Olena Kozyrieva shows floral arrangements and day-to-day work in a flower shop. She calls herself a florist. At the same time, according to documents, the woman repairs apartment buildings and constructs shelters using budget funds.
According to documents, Olena Kozyrieva worked on the reconstruction of two buildings in Odesa. Photo from Olena Kozyrieva’s Facebook
Kozyrieva became an entrepreneur in 2021 and shortly thereafter began receiving contracts from the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council.
In total Kozyrieva concluded 18 contracts for construction work in Odesa worth about 9,7 million hryvnias.
Her clients included the Department of Municipal Economy, the municipal enterprise “Housing and Communal Service ‘Porto-Frankivskyi’” and a communal institution responsible for the economic activities of educational institutions in the Peresypskyi district of Odesa. For the latter, the entrepreneur was, among other things, to repair shelters.
Under three contracts with the department, Kozyrieva was to restore buildings damaged by Russian shelling. In 2025 she received two contracts for major repairs of residential buildings on Mykhailivska Square, 12/14 and on Torgova Street, 45, with a total value of more than 2,5 million hryvnias. Another reconstruction contract was terminated by mutual agreement.
Why did the department officials entrust construction work to a florist? We found the answer by examining her circle.
Judging by Kozyrieva’s very active social media, the woman has no relation to the construction business and instead works as a florist. Screenshot from Olena Kozyrieva’s Facebook video
As Suspilne’s investigative team found, Olena Kozyrieva’s brother, Denys Kosmin, is the head of the municipal enterprise of the Odesa City Council “Housing and Communal Service ‘Chornomorskyi.’”
We established that Kosmin previously had the surname Soskiv and was registered with Olena at the same apartment in Odesa. However, after marriage he took his wife Kateryna’s surname.
Denys Kosmin has years of public service and work in Odesa communal institutions behind him. He worked in the Malynovskyi district administration, at the municipal enterprise “City Capital Construction,” and eventually, in 2024, became head of “Chornomorskyi.”
Denys Kosmin with his wife Kateryna. Photo from Kateryna Kosmina’s Facebook
The Kosmin family’s connection to Olena’s entrepreneurial activity does not end there. When registering as a FOP, Olena Kozyrieva listed a phone number that appears in registers as the contact for entrepreneur Olha Kosmina — Kateryna Kosmina’s mother.
Given this link, special attention should be paid to Department of Municipal Economy tenders in which Olena Kozyrieva competed with Olha Kosmina. They competed for almost two million hryvnias. Kosmina won.
Suspilne’s investigative editorial team contacted Olena Kozyrieva for comment. At first the entrepreneur said she was available to talk. But after the first question — about what specific reconstruction work she had carried out in Odesa — she suddenly said she could not continue the conversation.
The reporter managed to ask whether Kozyrieva personally performed reconstruction work and whether the head of the municipal enterprise “HCS ‘Chornomorskyi’” Denys Kosmin is her brother. The entrepreneur did not answer either question, repeatedly saying she could not talk, and then ended the call.
We sent Kozyrieva the questions via messenger. She read the message but did not respond for a week.
The head of HCS “Chornomorskyi,” Denys Kosmin, confirmed a family link with Olena Kozyrieva, but avoided answering a clarifying question about whether she is his sister.
“We had a falling-out a long time ago, you could say, for family reasons. I don’t communicate with her about her activities and I don’t want to say anything,” he said.
Denys Kosmin also denied that he had helped Kozyrieva obtain construction contracts. When asked how an entrepreneur who positions herself on social media as a florist began receiving repair and reconstruction contracts, he replied:
“How could I influence that? There are people responsible for that. I don’t know anything about her activities and I’m not interested.”
Kosmin could not explain why the FOP registration data for Kozyrieva included a number associated with his mother-in-law Olha Kosmina’s FOP.
“I don’t live in the same family with… whatever you called her — Olha. Yes, I know this person, but I don’t live with her and we don’t run a common household. What she does, I don’t know,” Denys Kosmin commented.
The career, suspicion, and connections of municipal official Saichuk
Kosmin’s connections led us to another story. Kosmin is the godfather of the former head of HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi,” Oleksandr Saichuk. He posted this on social networks, congratulating Saichuk on his birthday and publishing videos of their joint family vacation abroad.
Denys Kosmin congratulates his godfather Oleksandr Saichuk on his birthday. Photo from Denys Kosmin’s Instagram
Judging by their social media, the families continue to be friends. Recently the officials’ wives flew together to Greece.
Kateryna Kosmina and Saichuk’s wife Vita Charkovska on vacation. Screenshot from Charkovska’s Instagram
44-year-old Oleksandr Saichuk is originally from Vinnytsia region. He spent most of his career in Odesa’s communal sector: he headed HCS “Fontanskyi,” worked in the Department of Municipal Economy, was deputy director of the municipal enterprise “City Capital Construction,” and in 2023–2025 served as head of HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi.”
Oleksandr Saichuk held positions in Odesa communal enterprises for many years. Photo from his social media
For several years Saichuk was also connected to the construction business and, according to declarations, worked for entrepreneur Vita Charkovska — his wife, who, like their children, he never listed in his declarations.
At the end of 2025, Saichuk left his post as head of HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi.” By then he was already a suspect in a criminal proceeding. According to the investigation, Saichuk organized a scheme of fictitious employment of draft-age men at the HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi” he headed, after which they were shielded from mobilization through the Diia portal.
An analysis of Odesa reconstruction procurements conducted by Suspilne’s investigative editorial team showed that entrepreneurs connected to Oleksandr Saichuk received contracts from institutions where he worked. Some of the agreements bear Saichuk’s own signature.
Below we will tell in more detail about FOPs whose paths intertwined with Saichuk’s career.
Four contracts in one day: the success story of Saichuk’s friend
Serhii Tkachuk is from Vinnytsia region; he registered as an entrepreneur in October 2024. Less than two weeks later he received nine repair contracts from HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi,” four of them on the same day. Recall that the enterprise was headed by Oleksandr Saichuk.
Since then the entrepreneur has worked with that municipal enterprise and with the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council. The total value of the contracts concluded with him is 10,5 million hryvnias.
Among them is a contract to restore a multi-apartment residential building on Nizhynska Street, 12 in Odesa, damaged as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. The department did not disclose details of the agreement. It is known only that under this contract Tkachuk received 1,3 million hryvnias.
Serhii Tkachuk is a friend of Oleksandr Saichuk. Photo from Tkachuk’s Russian social networks
Investigating Serhii Tkachuk’s biography, we found that he really works in construction. He is also friends with Oleksandr Saichuk.
Tkachuk’s first construction contract as a FOP was concluded with HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi,” which at that time was headed by Oleksandr Saichuk. Screenshot of the Prozorro contract
Tkachuk and Saichuk are connected not only by signed contracts. On the entrepreneur’s social networks we found photos published as early as 2014 showing the men fishing and swimming in the sea together. This may indicate they were friends long before the entrepreneur began receiving contracts from Saichuk’s municipal enterprise.
Oleksandr Saichuk (left) and Serhii Tkachuk on vacation in 2014. Photo from a Russian social network
In a comment to Suspilne’s investigative editorial team, Tkachuk called Saichuk an acquaintance and said he does not communicate with him now. At the same time, when asked whether Saichuk influenced the entrepreneur receiving direct contracts for construction in Odesa, Tkachuk said everything happened “by phone call.”
“Well, someone called, said: ‘There’s an object, if you want, take it and work.’ […] They gave a phone number: call and arrange what you need,” Serhii Tkachuk said.
At the same time Tkachuk denied that his acquaintance with Oleksandr Saichuk influenced him receiving contracts in Odesa. He did not explain by what criteria, without any competition, he was chosen as the contractor.
Tkachuk could not recall what specific reconstruction work he performed at the building on Nizhynska Street, 12 in Odesa, for which he received 1,3 million hryvnias.
“Do you think I remember? I’ve already forgotten. The usual: puttying, painting. There are many of these works — you do this here, then there,” he replied.
She had an apartment with the municipal official and received contracts worth 24 million
The next figure in our investigation is 66-year-old entrepreneur Nina Mazurok, who shared an apartment in Odesa with Oleksandr Saichuk until 2016. In his declaration for 2016 Saichuk also indicated the apartment was jointly owned — but did not write the woman’s name, noting that “a family member did not provide information.”
As Suspilne’s investigative team established, Saichuk was not only a co-owner of the apartment, but was also registered at the same address as Nina Mazurok and her family. This fact may indicate a family connection between them.
Nina Mazurok lived at the same address as Oleksandr Saichuk. Photo from Nina Mazurok’s Facebook
Another co-owner of the apartment was Viktoriia Landina — likely Nina Mazurok’s daughter. According to Saichuk’s declarations, she provided him free use of her Toyota Land Cruiser.
Photos still remain on Saichuk’s wife Vita Charkovska’s social networks that point to close relations between the family and Viktoriia Landina.
Oleksandr Saichuk with his wife and son at Viktoriia Landina’s birthday. Photo from the social networks of Oleksandr Saichuk’s wife
In 2021, when Nina Mazurok registered as an individual entrepreneur, Saichuk worked in the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council as deputy head of one of its departments.
A month after registering, the entrepreneur received her first contract from that department — to replace windows in a residential building. The contract was concluded without competitive bidding.
A month later Mazurok received four new contracts from the department in one day, with a total value of more than 2,5 million hryvnias. Thereafter the volume of orders continued to grow.
To date the entrepreneur has concluded contracts with various Odesa institutions for more than 24 million hryvnias. Among them was a contract to restore a residential building damaged by Russian aggression, which, however, was later terminated by mutual agreement.
We tried to obtain comment from Nina Mazurok about her participation in construction works in Odesa. We called several times at all numbers available to the editorial team, but the entrepreneur did not answer the calls.
We also sent questions to Nina Mazurok in two messengers. In particular, we asked whether she has a family connection with Oleksandr Saichuk and whether he helped her obtain budget contracts, and who actually performed the work under her contracts and whether workers, equipment, or materials from Odesa municipal enterprises were used.
Over the week Nina Mazurok did not respond, although she read one message in a messenger and later even deleted the messages.
An uncle who doesn’t know he’s doing reconstruction
When registering as a FOP, Mazurok listed her official address not as the apartment co-owned with Oleksandr Saichuk but as a dormitory on Radisna Street belonging to one of Odesa’s municipal enterprises. In state registers she is listed as a resident of room No. 179.
Next door, in room No. 176, another entrepreneur is registered — 77-year-old Vinnytsia native Mykola Pyvovar. And in room No. 177 — Oleksandr Saichuk. This room was also listed in the ex-official’s most recent declaration.
Mykola Pyvovar received public contracts in Odesa totaling more than 22 million hryvnias. Photo from Pyvovar’s Instagram
Pyvovar became an entrepreneur about 10 years ago, and his first contract — as a result of public procurement — was concluded in 2017 with the housing and communal service “Fontanskyi,” which at that time was headed by his dormitory neighbor Saichuk.
The first FOP agreement of Mykola Pyvovar was with the municipal enterprise headed by Oleksandr Saichuk. Screenshot from Prozorro
Since then Pyvovar has re-registered in Vinnytsia region and received contracts from various Odesa institutions worth 22 million hryvnias.
One of them, concluded in April 2025, concerns the reconstruction of a multi-apartment residential building on Novoselskoho Street, 50. Under this contract the entrepreneur received 1,2 million hryvnias. The client was the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council. The department published no details about the order or the contract.
Suspilne’s investigative editorial team established another connection between the entrepreneur and Oleksandr Saichuk. In phone books Mykola Pyvovar’s number is listed by users as “Saichuk,” and one of the entrepreneur’s two official phone numbers belongs to Saichuk’s wife Vita Charkovska, who now, like Pyvovar, is registered as a FOP and receives construction contracts in Odesa.
In conversation with Suspilne’s investigative team, Mykola Pyvovar confirmed a family relationship with Saichuk.
“Oleksandr Saichuk is my nephew,” Pyvovar said.
At the same time he denied that Saichuk helped him obtain construction contracts in Odesa or assisted in this matter. He added that he now lives in Vinnytsia region and has long since stopped working in construction.
“After the war we don’t do this,” Mykola Pyvovar said.
However, this is not consistent with Prozorro data, because since 2022 Odesa institutions have concluded a total of 15 agreements with the entrepreneur worth more than 7,6 million hryvnias. Mykola Pyvovar said he knows nothing about this.
— Look, in April 2025 you received a contract to restore the house on Novoselskoho 50, — the reporter asked Pyvovar.
— I don’t know, — the entrepreneur replied.
Hearing further questions, including whether he knows Nina Mazurok, Pyvovar said he was busy and ended the conversation.
We also called Oleksandr Saichuk several times at all numbers available to the editorial team, but he did not answer.
We sent questions about his links to Mykola Pyvovar, Nina Mazurok, and Serhii Tkachuk to all messengers where he is registered. In one of them Saichuk read the message but did not respond for a week.
Criminal case about Odesa FOPs: municipal workers did the work instead of them
In August 2025 investigators of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Odesa region opened a criminal investigation involving entrepreneurs who received construction contracts from the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council.
According to the investigation, in 2024–2025 officials of the department, representatives of the relevant city council commission, and employees of municipal enterprises organized a scheme to appropriate budget funds on repairs of apartment buildings. This also concerns buildings damaged as a result of Russian attacks.
Law enforcement believes the mechanism for misappropriating funds involved inflating volumes of work and the cost of materials in documents. Police also claim that some FOPs are relatives or acquaintances of officials of the Department of Municipal Economy and the municipal enterprises HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi” and HCS “Chornomorskyi.”
According to the investigation, in total in 2024–2025 the Department of Municipal Economy concluded capital repair contracts with such entrepreneurs for more than 80 million hryvnias.
Investigators also found that some of the works that, on paper, the entrepreneurs were to perform were actually carried out by employees of HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi” and HCS “Chornomorskyi,” which is confirmed by witness interviews.
The FOPs from Oleksandr Saichuk’s circle that we identified do not, judging by court rulings, figure in the case. At the same time, Denys Kosmin’s relative, Olena Kozyrieva, came under police scrutiny.
In a comment to Suspilne’s investigative team, HCS “Chornomorskyi” head Denys Kosmin said he was hearing about the criminal case for the first time.
— I’m learning from you for the first time that there is some case. Nothing has been received at the enterprise. What can I comment on if I don’t know about this? — he said.
After the reporter clarified that the information is in the court register, Kosmin suggested that the rulings “may contain something said in error” and asked to send an official request.
Oleksandr Saichuk, who headed HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi,” did not answer calls or messages, as noted earlier.
Oleksandr Saichuk read Suspilne’s questions in Telegram but did not answer them. Screenshot of the message
Our investigation showed: contracts for reconstruction and repairs of residential buildings in Odesa were awarded, in particular, to entrepreneurs without professional construction experience but with family and friendly ties to the heads of two municipal enterprises. These deals were concluded without open tenders and without publication of contracts and estimates, and some FOPs began receiving budget contracts almost immediately after registration.
Author: Hanna Kalaur
Source: SUSPILNE
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