Companies involved in fortifications and millions of hryvnias overpricing may be linked to President’s Office – media. VIDEO

Companies engaged in building fortifications in Kherson and Zhytomyr regions have either artificially inflated prices by tens of millions of hryvnias or were used as shell firms to channel state funds. Both entities may be connected to individuals from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inner circle.

This is stated in an investigation by Bihus.Info, Censor.NET reports.

Since the beginning of 2024, the Ukrainian government has allocated around UAH 40 billion for the construction of fortifications. A significant portion of this budget was distributed to regional state administrations, which then signed contracts with contractors to build and equip defensive lines. Journalists have conducted an in-depth analysis of the financial aspects of the fortification projects and found that in at least several regions—specifically Kherson and Zhytomyr—the state may have lost tens of millions of hryvnias.

UAH 280 million for fortification work in the Kherson region was awarded to a company called Global Build Engineering. Last year, Bihus.Info already reported on the company’s ties to Anton Samoylenko, deputy head of the Kherson Regional State Administration. The company did not purchase the necessary construction materials directly from the manufacturer, but instead sourced them from a newly established firm, Dnipro Promsnab Torg, which exhibits all the signs of a shelf company (a business entity mass-registered by legal professionals and later sold to interested parties for specific schemes -ed.). Dnipro Promsnab Torg bought anti-tank pyramids and lego blocks from producers and then sold them to Global Build Engineering at a substantial markup. According to journalists’ estimates, overpayment on these materials alone may amount to UAH 35 million. Moreover, the owner of Dnipro Promsnab Torg, Vitalii Ponomarenko, was earning income from both companies, indicating an affiliation between the two entities. This suggests that the overpricing was artificially engineered and that the profits were funneled back into the same network of companies.

In the Zhytomyr region, some of the fortification orders were given to Navitechservice, which was also featured in one of Bihus.Info's previous investigations - in 2023, the company was engaged in the reconstruction of the Irpinsky Lypky residential complex in the Kyiv region, receiving more than UAH 600 million for the work.

Despite receiving a contract for fortification work, the company did not carry out the work itself. Navitekhservis transferred over UAH 30 million it had received to a company called Reiskvik LLC, which in turn redirected part of the funds further down the chain to another affiliated entity, Meltner Strong LLC. The latter spent the money on purchasing an unusually large quantity—56 tonnes—of fabric. Such transactions typically indicate an intent to withdraw funds in cash. Another portion of the funds received by Reiskvik could not be traced by journalists—it appears to have disappeared somewhere in the company’s financial records.