Almost 800 million without competition: KODA entrusted construction of water intakes in Fastiv and Bila Tserkva to dubious contractors

Kyiv region continues its declared work to ensure stable water supply in communities and to prevent emergencies. Almost simultaneously with the order to build a water intake in Bila Tserkva for more than 320 million hryvnias, the regional administration also signed, without competition, a contract to construct a water treatment unit and a potable water storage tank in Fastiv for 480 million hryvnias.

Despite the stated urgency, the project is to be completed only by the end of 2027, since the contractor must first develop design documentation — for which a whole six months were allotted. Such an important facility was entrusted to LLC “Nikopolska-STK,” which has numerous criminal proceedings in its dossier on suspicion of possible embezzlement of funds during execution of budget contracts in various regions. In one such episode the case already ended with a guilty verdict: the company’s former director (incidentally, the son of the current owner) was sentenced to two years of restricted liberty for fraud during the reconstruction of a hospital in Kherson region.

As became known from the announcement in the Prozorro electronic procurement system, on 11 August 2026 the Department of Regional Development of Kyiv Regional State Administration (DRR KODA) published a contract with LLC “Nikopolska-STK” (*) for the construction of a water treatment unit and a potable water reservoir at Kalynova Street, 15-A in Fastiv. The contract price is 480 million hryvnias.

What will be built and why

According to the agreement, the company must first develop the design documentation and obtain a positive expert report (by February 2027), and then carry out construction works (by the end of 2027).

The technical assignment states that the project includes construction of a preliminary water treatment unit, a water purification system, a reservoir for storing clean water, as well as partial reconstruction of the existing second-lift pumping station.

The nominal capacity of the treatment facilities will be 300 cu. m per hour, or 7200 cu. m per day. Currently the station has two clean-water tanks with a total volume of 6000 cu. m, to which the project foresees adding another with a capacity of 3000 cu. m.

It is stated that the implementation of this project should improve the water purification system at the Fastivvodokanal station, provide the city with the full daily volume of water, and create the necessary reserve of clean water.

Note that the procurement was conducted without open bidding; the contract was signed directly due to the urgent need to perform the specified works. Previously, for the DRR order, the Dnipro-based LLC “Unir Engineering” conducted the calculation of the forecast cost indicators of the construction.

About the contractor

According to the analytical system YouControl, LLC “Nikopolska-STK” was registered in 2006 in the city of Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk region, and in spring 2026 it was re-registered in Kyiv. The main activity is maintenance and repair of motor vehicles. The company’s founders are Stanislav and Iryna Pohany, and the manager is Alla Borenko.

In 2016–2021, LLC “Nikopolska-STK” was led by Oleksandr Stanislavovych Pohan — likely the son of Stanislav Pohan. Currently Oleksandr Pohan manages the company “Nika-pobutservis,” which belongs to Stanislav Pohan and Andrii Shaplykov. The latter is the head of the subsidiary enterprise “Pobutservis” of JSC “Nikopol South Pipe Plant” (in the process of liquidation). According to YouControl, this company is connected to the EastOne business group of Viktor Pinchuk — a Ukrainian billionaire and son-in-law of the second President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma.

In 2015 Oleksandr Pohan unsuccessfully ran for the Nikopol City Council from the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko.

The Pohan family ties are confirmed by documents of another member of the family — Stanislav Oleksandrovych Pohan. In 2018 he applied for the position of operative officer in one of the National Police departments in Kherson region and stated in his declaration that he is the son of Oleksandr and Iryna Pohan.

According to Clarity Project, LLC “Nikopolska-STK” signed 42 contracts from public procurements totaling 896,5 million hryvnias. The August contract with the DRR for construction of water treatment facilities in Fastiv is the company’s most expensive budget contract since its founding. Previously the firm most actively obtained orders in Mykolaiv and Kherson regions. Its activities in those regions repeatedly caught the attention of law enforcement.

In particular, several years ago the reconstruction of the canteen block of Holopristanska hospital in Kherson region was the subject of a criminal proceeding. The court established that Oleksandr Pohan, as director of LLC “Nikopolska-STK,” signed certificates for works that were actually not performed in the amount of almost 110 thousand hryvnias, which he then appropriated. In 2020 he was sentenced to two years of restricted liberty, and six months later the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court left the verdict unchanged.

Investigators of the Kherson district police department are investigating a criminal proceeding regarding possible misappropriation of budget funds during the reconstruction of school No. 26 in Komyshany in Kherson region. According to the investigation, in 2018–2020 contracts were concluded with LLC “Nikopolska-STK” for reconstruction and additional works totaling more than 52,8 million hryvnias, and during an audit an overstatement of the cost of actually performed works by 1,75 million hryvnias was found.

Another, more recent, proceeding concerns construction of a shelter for Mykhailivskyi Lyceum of the Stepivska community in Mykolaiv region. Investigators of the Main Department of National Police in Mykolaiv region are probing possible embezzlement of budget funds within criminal proceeding No. 42026152410000063 from 4 June 2026. According to the investigation, officials of the local education department may have acted in collusion with representatives of LLC “Nikopolska-STK” and entered false information into certificates of completed works about the cost of materials and volumes of work, including using controlled enterprises and non-goods transactions.

Project urgency

At the beginning of June 2026 the Kyiv regional commission on technogenic and environmental safety and emergencies at an extraordinary meeting determined urgent measures to strengthen the region’s water supply and sewerage systems, the completion of which must be finished before the start of the heating season 2026/2027. The regional military administration noted that damage to critical infrastructure by the occupier, worn networks, and silted wells create a real threat of water supply interruptions in some communities.

The Director of the Department of Housing and Communal Services and Energy Efficiency of KODA, Oleksandr Poprotskyi, voiced at the meeting an appeal from the Fastiv community regarding the critical condition of the city’s water supply system.

“Due to moral and physical wear, the existing system regularly fails, and the water quality does not meet current sanitary norms and rules. In addition, the total volume of existing potable water reservoirs does not ensure regulatory control of water supply and the necessary emergency reserve for more than 50 000 consumers of the community (including 9 800 internally displaced persons),” the meeting heard.

To prevent a technogenic emergency and to avoid prolonged water outages, as stated, the community requires urgent construction of a water treatment unit at the second-lift station and a potable water reservoir. The customer of the respective works was recommended to promptly conduct procurement without open bidding.

On 11 June 2026 the issue reached the national level: the State Commission on Technogenic and Environmental Safety and Emergencies chaired by Vice Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba supported the urgent need to implement projects identified by the respective regional commissions. The state commission warned that delays amid Russian aggression and the constant threat of strikes on infrastructure could lead to interruptions of centralized water supply, deterioration of the sanitary-epidemiological situation, and the emergence of technogenic emergencies.

Note that despite the emphasis on urgency and the purported lack of time for open tenders, the DRR KODA took almost two months to prepare the justification for the procurement for construction of the treatment unit and potable water reservoir in Fastiv.

The Kyiv regional commission on technogenic and environmental safety and emergencies, following its meeting in early June, classified projects in five districts of the region as urgent — Brovary, Bucha, Obukhiv, Fastiv, and Bila Tserkva. In particular, in Bila Tserkva they identified the need to construct a mobile water intake complex with a water purification system — as an alternative water supply source. DRR KODA also ordered the corresponding works at the beginning of August this year, and plans to complete them by the end of 2027.

Since June 2025, the Department of Regional Development of KODA has been headed by Oleh Kravchenko. From 30 July 2026, the head of the Kyiv regional military administration is Tymur Tkachenko. Before him, from the end of March 2025, the position was held by Mykola Kalashnyk, who is now Minister for Restoration, Infrastructure and Transport of Ukraine.

The head of Fastiv city community is Mykhailo Netyazhuk.

* LLC “Nikopolska-STK” (EDRPOU code: 34610536)

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