Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
30 October the Department of Infrastructure and Public Improvement of the Chernivtsi City Council announced a tender for services to maintain the street and road network within the territory of the Chernivtsi city territorial community. The expected procurement cost is 17 million 83 thousand UAH.
Tender proposals will be accepted until 15 November. The procurement is currently at the proposal submission stage.
However, the tender announcement sparked dissatisfaction among part of the local community. In particular, Chernivtsi residents were outraged that a large sum of budget funds is being allocated to road maintenance and cleaning instead of outfitting shelters.
Local activist Illia Rozhko drew attention to this in his post. He questioned the priority of such expenditures, given the city's needs for safety and the proper outfitting of protective structures.
Who is responsible for the procurement?
The Department of Infrastructure and Public Improvement of the Chernivtsi City Council is headed by Ihor Nikolenko. His name has already appeared several times in StopCor materials and other media publications.
In particular, in June 2026 the year StopCor wrote about a criminal proceeding regarding alleged embezzlement of budget funds during the repair of a shelter. According to Suspilne Chernivtsi, it was about approximately 300 thousand hryvnias. Nikolenko and his former deputy were named in the case, and the head of the department himself was notified of suspicion.
As noted in the StopCor piece, the official disagreed with the suspicion and stated his intention to prove his innocence in court. He was suspended from his position during the investigation.
Earlier media also reported possible informal payments from contractors in exchange for assistance in obtaining public contracts. These allegations require proper verification and are not established facts in court.
The department headed by Nikolenko is also one of the largest managers of funds for city procurements. According to data cited in a previous StopCor investigation, in just 2023–2025 years more than 3,1 billion UAH of budget funds passed through it.
Klychuk’s team and questions for the city authorities
Ihor Nikolenko works in the team of Chernivtsi Mayor Roman Klychuk. The mayor himself has previously been the subject of StopCor journalistic investigations.
Specifically, the editorial office analyzed the Klychuk family's business assets, his property status, possible conflicts of interest, and questions regarding the city council's work. Journalists also tried to obtain comments from the mayor, but the city council reported that he did not wish to communicate with media representatives.
So this new tender for more than 17 million UAH again draws attention to the department’s work and the city authorities’ approaches to the allocation of budget funds.
Who stands behind the companies involved in cleaning?
Another aspect worth noting is the private enterprises operating in the management and cleaning sector.
According to Opendatabot data, Oleksandr Melnychuk is one of the ultimate beneficial owners of PP “Management Company No.1”. He owns 33% of the company. At the same time, that company owns 100% of two other enterprises — PP “Management Company No.2” and PP “Management Company No.3”, whose main activity is cleaning.
Melnychuk’s political past also draws attention: according to the Chesno movement, in 2020 he ran for the Chernivtsi City Council from the party “Opposition Platform — For Life”, the activity of which is now banned in Ukraine.
At the same time, the mere existence of corporate links does not prove these companies’ involvement in the announced procurement. Whether they have an interest in the new tender can be assessed after participants and the procedure results appear.
Photo with Dubynsky and the case worth 129 million
One episode from Illia Rozhko’s post draws particular attention. The activist published a photo of Mayor Roman Klychuk with Leonid Dubynsky — a businessman whose name appears in materials from U.S. law enforcement and Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies.
Leonid Dubynsky and his brother Volodymyr are wanted by the U.S. FBI. As stated on the bureau’s official website, on 14 September 2012 a federal court in California issued arrest warrants for them after charges of mail fraud were brought. The case concerns the brothers’ alleged involvement in mortgage fraud involving real estate in California.
Business structures associated with the Dubynsky brothers have previously been mentioned multiple times in journalistic investigations into obtaining large public contracts. In particular, the media wrote about LLC “Budinvest Engineering”, which received multi-million contracts for road works and other infrastructure projects.
In addition, the case concerning alleged embezzlement of funds in the reconstruction of the water supply in Kamianske district of Dnipropetrovsk region has seen new developments. On 9 October 2026 the year NABU and SAP reported that they had sent the indictment to court.
According to the investigation, members of the organized group in 2022–2023 years ensured the victory of a controlled company in the tender for the reconstruction of the water supply. Pipes were purchased through an intermediary firm and resold to the municipal enterprise with a substantial markup. As a result, according to the investigation’s estimate, the losses exceeded 129 million UAH.
The name of the organizer was not specified in the NABU statement. At the same time, Suspilne Dnipro, citing its own sources, reported that it concerns Leonid Dubynsky.
So will the tender for more than 17 million UAH become another story raising questions about the allocation of budget funds in Chernivtsi? StopCor will follow the procurement process, its participants and results, as well as the city authorities’ reaction.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "17 млн на прибирання замість укриттів: чому чернівчани обурені новим тендером мерії Клічука і до чого тут брати Дубинські?". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: NARDEP 24.