Denys Kosmin and Oleksandr Saichuk: How Sole Proprietors Connected to Odesa Utilities Won Tens of Millions for Reconstruction

Denys Kosmin and Oleksandr Saichuk: How sole proprietors connected to Odesa municipal utilities won tens of millions for reconstruction

In Odesa, budget contracts for repairs and reconstruction of buildings damaged by Russian attacks were awarded to entrepreneurs linked to the heads of city municipal enterprises. Among them were a florist, relatives of officials, their friends, and even residents of neighboring rooms in a dormitory.

This is reported in an investigation by the Suspilne investigative editorial team.

Repairs without tenders

Reconstruction is not only about large tenders worth tens of millions of hryvnias. Many agreements are signed for relatively small amounts: for example, window replacements, roof repairs, and door installations in buildings damaged by Russian attacks.

As Suspilne found, in Odesa most reconstruction contracts were signed for amounts up to one and a half million hryvnias — expenses below this threshold allow services to be procured directly, that is, without using the electronic trading system.

For years this allowed the work commissioners, the main one of which is the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council, to choose contractors on their own. Without an auction, without competition, and without giving other participants the opportunity to offer their services and lower the price.

The department directly concluded reconstruction contracts with 15 individual sole proprietors. Apart from brief reports on these agreements, the department did not publish anything on Prozorro: neither the contracts, nor detailed information about the sole proprietors, nor cost estimates.

In this investigation we will not tell about every entrepreneur we found — only about those who have connections to officials that we were able to verify.

In life — a florist; on paper — a builder

On her social networks, Odesa resident Olena Kozyrieva shows floral arrangements and daily work in a flower shop. She calls herself a florist. Yet in official documents the woman carries out repairs of apartment buildings and builds shelters using budget funds.

According to documents, Olena Kozyrieva was involved in the reconstruction of two buildings in Odesa. Photo from Olena Kozyrieva’s Facebook

Kozyrieva became an entrepreneur in 2021, and soon after began receiving contracts from the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council.

Overall Kozyrieva signed 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 municipal institution responsible for the maintenance of educational facilities in the Peresypskyi district of Odesa. For the latter, the entrepreneur was, among other things, supposed to repair shelters.

Under three contracts with the department, Kozyrieva was to carry out restoration of 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 over 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.

As the Suspilne investigative editorial 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 Soskov and was registered with Olena at the same apartment in Odesa. However, after marriage he took the surname of his wife, Kateryna.

Denys Kosmin has years of public service and work in Odesa municipal institutions. He worked in the Malynovskyi District Administration of the city, the municipal enterprise “City Capital Construction,” and eventually in 2024 he headed “Chornomorskyi.”

The Kosmin family’s connection to Olena’s entrepreneurial activity does not end there. When registering as a sole proprietor, Olena Kozyrieva provided a phone number that appears in registers as the phone number of entrepreneur Olha Kosmina — the mother of Kateryna Kosmina.

Given this connection, the Department of Municipal Economy tenders in which Olena Kozyrieva competed with Olha Kosmina deserve special attention. They competed for nearly two million hryvnias. Kosmina won.

The Suspilne investigative editorial team contacted Olena Kozyrieva for comment. At first the entrepreneur said it was convenient for her to talk. But after the first question — about which specific reconstruction works she carried out in Odesa — she suddenly said she could not continue the conversation.

The journalist managed to ask whether Kozyrieva personally worked on the reconstructions 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 questions via messenger. She read the message but did not respond within a week.

The head of HCS “Chornomorskyi,” Denys Kosmin, confirmed the family tie with Olena Kozyrieva but avoided answering a clarifying question on whether she is his sister.

“We had a falling out a long time ago, you could say, due to family circumstances. I do not communicate with her about her activities and I don’t want to say anything,” he stated.

Kosmin also denied facilitating Kozyrieva’s receipt of construction contracts. Asked how an entrepreneur who presents herself as a florist on social networks began getting repair and reconstruction contracts, he replied:

“How could I influence that? There are people responsible for that. I know nothing about her activities and I am not interested.”

Kosmin could not explain why the phone number listed in Kozyrieva’s sole proprietor registration was the number assigned to his mother-in-law Olha Kosmina’s sole proprietorship.

“I don’t live with… how did you call her — Olha. Yes, I know this person, but I don’t live with her and we do not share a household. What she does is unknown to me,” Denys Kosmin commented.

The career, suspicion, and connections of municipal official Saichuk

Kosmin’s ties led us to another story. Kosmin is the godfather of the former head of HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi,” Oleksandr Saichuk. He announced this on social networks, congratulating Saichuk on his birthday and posting video of their joint family vacation abroad.

Judging by their social media, the families continue to be friends. Recently the officials’ wives flew together to Greece.

44-year-old Oleksandr Saichuk is from Vinnytsia region. He spent most of his career in Odesa’s municipal sphere: 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 he led HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi.”

For several years Saichuk was also involved in the construction business and, according to declarations, worked for entrepreneur Vita Charkovska — his wife, whom, like their children, he never listed in declarations.

At the end of 2025 Saichuk left his post as head of HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi.” At that time he was already a suspect in a criminal case. According to the investigation, Saichuk organized a scheme of fictitious employment of conscription-age men at the HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi” he headed, after which they were exempted from mobilization through the Diia portal.

An analysis of reconstruction procurements in Odesa conducted by the Suspilne investigative editorial team showed that entrepreneurs linked to Oleksandr Saichuk received contracts from institutions where he worked. Some agreements bear Saichuk’s own signatures.

Below we detail sole proprietors whose paths crossed with Saichuk’s career.

Four contracts in one day: the success story of Saichuk’s friend

Sergii Tkachuk is from Vinnychchyna and 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 as well as 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 multifamily residential building on Nizhynska Street, 12 in Odesa, damaged as a result of armed aggression by 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.

Researching Sergii Tkachuk’s biography, we found that he does indeed work in construction. He is also friends with Oleksandr Saichuk.

Tkachuk and Saichuk are connected not only by the contracts they signed. On the entrepreneur’s social networks we found photos published as early as 2014 showing the men fishing together and swimming in the sea. This may indicate they were friends long before the entrepreneur began receiving contracts from the municipal enterprise headed by Saichuk.

In a comment to Suspilne’s investigative editorial team, Tkachuk called Saichuk an acquaintance and said he is not in contact with him now. Asked whether Saichuk influenced the entrepreneur receiving direct construction contracts in Odesa, Tkachuk said that everything happened “by phone call.”

“Well, someone called, says: ‘There’s an object, if you want, take it, work.’ […] He gave a phone number: call and arrange what you need,” Sergii Tkachuk said.

At the same time Tkachuk denied that his acquaintance with Saichuk affected his receipt of contracts in Odesa. He did not explain the criteria by which he was chosen as a contractor without any competition.

Tkachuk could not recall what specific reconstruction work he carried out at the Nizhynska Street building, 12 in Odesa, for which he received 1,3 million hryvnias.

“Do you think I remember? I’ve forgotten. As usual: we putty, paint. There are many such tasks — you do this there, you do that here,” he replied.

Had an apartment with the municipal official and received contracts for 24 million

The next figure in our investigation is 66-year-old entrepreneur Nina Mazurok, who until 2016 shared an apartment in Odesa with Oleksandr Saichuk. In a declaration for 2016 Saichuk also indicated that the apartment was jointly owned — but he did not write the woman’s name, noting that “a family member did not provide information.”

As Suspilne’s investigative editorial team found, Saichuk was not only a co-owner of the apartment but was registered at the same address as Nina Mazurok and her family. This fact may indicate a family relationship between them.

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.

On social media the photos indicating close relations between the Saichuk family and Viktoriia Landina still remain on the pages of Saichuk’s wife, Vita Charkovska.

In 2021, when Nina Mazurok registered as a sole proprietor, Saichuk was working in the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council as deputy head of one of the 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 a single day with a total value of over 2,5 million hryvnias. Later the volume of orders only grew.

To date the entrepreneur has signed contracts with various Odesa institutions for over 24 million hryvnias. Among them was a contract to restore a residential building damaged by Russian aggression, which 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 on all numbers available to the editorial team, but the entrepreneur did not answer.

We also sent questions to Nina Mazurok in two messengers. In particular, we asked whether she has a family relationship 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 of Odesa municipal enterprises were involved.

For a week Nina Mazurok did not respond, although in one messenger she read the message and later even deleted it.

An uncle who isn’t aware that reconstruction is being done

When registering as a sole proprietor, Mazurok listed as her official address not the apartment co-owned with Oleksandr Saichuk but a dormitory on Radisna Street that belongs to one of Odesa’s municipal enterprises. In state registers she is recorded as living in 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 former official’s last declaration.

Pyvovar became an entrepreneur about 10 years ago, and his first contract — following public tenders — was signed in 2017 with the Housing and Communal Service “Fontanskyi,” which at that time was headed by his dormitory neighbor Saichuk.

Since then Pyvovar managed to re-register in Vinnytsia region and receive contracts from various Odesa institutions worth 22 million hryvnias.

One of them, concluded in April 2025, concerns the reconstruction of a multifamily residential building on Novoselskoho Street, 50. Under that contract the entrepreneur received 1,2 million hryvnias. The client was the Department of Municipal Economy of the Odesa City Council. The department did not publish any details about the order or the contract.

Suspilne’s investigative editorial team also established another link between the entrepreneur and Oleksandr Saichuk. In phone books Mykola Pyvovar’s number is listed by users under the name “Saichuk,” and one of the entrepreneur’s two official numbers belongs to Saichuk’s wife, Vita Charkovska, who is now, like Pyvovar, registered as a sole proprietor and receives construction contracts in Odesa.

In a conversation with Suspilne’s investigative editorial 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 stopped working in construction.

“After the war we do not do this,” Mykola Pyvovar said.

However, this does not match Prozorro data, because since 2022 Odesa institutions have concluded a total of 15 agreements with the entrepreneur for over 7,6 million hryvnias. Mykola Pyvovar said he knows nothing about this.

“Look, in April 2025 you received a contract to reconstruct the building on Novoselskoho 50,” the journalist asks 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 repeatedly called Oleksandr Saichuk on all numbers available to the editorial team, but he did not answer.

We sent questions about his links with Mykola Pyvovar, Nina Mazurok, and Sergii Tkachuk to all messengers where he is registered. In one of them Saichuk read the message but did not reply within a week.

Criminal case about Odesa sole proprietors: municipal employees performed the work instead of them

In August 2025 investigators of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Odesa region opened an investigation in a criminal case 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, members of the relevant deputy commission, and employees of municipal enterprises organized a scheme to embezzle budget funds during repairs of multifamily buildings. This also concerns buildings damaged as a result of Russian attacks.

Law enforcement believes that the embezzlement mechanism involved inflating the volumes of work and the cost of materials in documents. Police also assert that some sole proprietors are relatives or acquaintances of officials from the Department of Municipal Economy and the municipal enterprises HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi” and HCS “Chornomorskyi.”

According to the investigation, in 2024–2025 the Department of Municipal Economy concluded contracts with such entrepreneurs for capital repairs of buildings totaling over 80 million hryvnias.

Investigators also found that part of the works that were supposed to be performed by the entrepreneurs on paper were actually carried out by employees of HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi” and HCS “Chornomorskyi,” which is confirmed by witness interviews.

The sole proprietors connected to Oleksandr Saichuk that we identified do not, according to court rulings, figure in the case. Meanwhile, a relative of Denys Kosmin, Olena Kozyrieva, came under police scrutiny.

In a comment to Suspilne’s investigative editorial team, the head of HCS “Chornomorskyi,” Denys Kosmin, said he was hearing about the criminal case for the first time.

“This is the first time I’ve heard from you that there is some case. Nothing has been received at the enterprise. What can I comment on if I do not know this?” he said.

After the journalist clarified that the information is in the court register, Kosmin suggested that “something may have been said mistakenly” in the rulings and asked to send an official request.

Recall that Oleksandr Saichuk, who headed HCS “Porto-Frankivskyi,” did not answer calls or messages.

Contracts for reconstruction and repairs of residential buildings in Odesa were awarded, among others, to entrepreneurs without professional construction experience but with family and friendly ties to the heads of two municipal enterprises. These agreements were signed without open tenders and without publishing contracts and cost estimates, and some sole proprietors began receiving budget contracts almost immediately after registration.

Author: Hanna Kalaur