Billions for veterans’ facilities: investigation reveals issues with tenders and links to Reznichenko and Holyk, – media
The government is set to spend billions on standardised veterans’ centres, the construction of which may involve the former head of the Dnipropetrovsk RMA, Valentin Reznichenko, and the ‘ideologist’ behind the ‘Great Construction’project, Yurii Holyk.
This is reported by Censor.NET, citing an investigation by NGL.media.
A multi-billion-pound government programme and a single project
As noted, the state covers up to 60% of the construction costs, with the remainder to be contributed by the local community. The funds will be allocated solely for new construction and strictly in accordance with the ministry’s standard design, meaning they cannot be used for the renovation or refurbishment of existing veterans’ centres.
Even before the official launch of the government programme, First Deputy Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Viktor Baidachnyi visited the regions and negotiated with local communities. By July 2025, the government had allocated 446 million hryvnias, and construction of veterans’ centres had begun in the first seven communities – Kryvyi Rih, Lutsk, Zhytomyr, Bucha, Uzhhorod, Kremenchuk and Ivano-Frankivsk.
The first facilities are in seven cities, but none have opened
They were planned to be commissioned in record time – by 1 December last year. Clearly, none of the seven facilities met this deadline. In the end, they have still not opened. Meanwhile, in February 2026, the government approved the terms for participation in the next phase of the programme to build veterans’ centres – this time worth 1.1 billion hryvnias for 15 communities.
Young companies and inflated estimates
The adapted projects were assessed by two organisations, "UK Ekspertiza" LLC and "Nova-Expert" LLC, spending less than a month on each facility.
They were in a hurry with the tenders too. In all seven communities, only one contractor applied to take part in the bidding process, and it was this contractor who secured the contract, whilst the tender conditions effectively prevented others from participating. For example, in Kryvyi Rih, bidders were required to confirm an annual income matching the expected contract value (over 130 million UAH) – and to undergo a personal site inspection signed off by the client. In Uzhhorod, in addition to the inspection, optional quality certificates were added.
At the same time, the companies that ultimately secured the contracts were either newly established or had disproportionately little experience. A contractor in Kremenchuk had experience worth 2 million UAH but was awarded a contract worth 132 million UAH. Documents submitted for the tender show that all 42 of the company’s employees were hired a few months before the tender with salaries of 8–9,000 UAH, whilst the average salary for a construction worker is 40,000 UAH. The consortium building the veterans’ centre in Bucha was registered a few months before the tender and has a staff of just six people.
Construction of the seven veterans’ centres began in the summer and autumn of 2025. It was then discovered that the cost of materials in the estimates had been significantly inflated. In Kremenchuk – around 2 million UAH, in Kryvyi Rih – around 2.6 million UAH, in Uzhhorod – over 7 million. Some items in the cost estimates are deliberately vague, lacking specific details, making it impossible to compare them with market prices.
According to the government programme, a total of 161 veterans’ centres are planned to be built across the country – all in a single architectural style. This project was approved by the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs by order. But it was not commissioned by the ministry.
The project documentation appeared in the construction activity register on 24 April last year – 55 days before the government resolution was issued. The documentation was commissioned by the charitable foundation ‘Songs Born in the ATO’ from Yurii Erdeli, a private entrepreneur from Zakarpattia. The project was then handed over to the ministry, which acquired all property rights. Participation in the state programme is only possible on condition that construction proceeds strictly according to this project, with no alternatives.
Political connections surrounding the programme
The charitable foundation "Songs Born in the ATO" from Dnipro previously organised music festivals, but in 2022 shifted its focus to assisting the military, displaced persons and hospitals. The organisation has no connection whatsoever to design or construction – at least officially.
The foundation’s founder, Volodymyr Yurchenko, was unable to explain why a charitable organisation would commission construction documentation for a state programme.
Architect Yurii Erdeli confirmed in a conversation with NGL.media that he had been approached by a charitable foundation, though he could not recall its name. Erdeli says he developed the design for a symbolic fee of one hryvnia, "because it’s for veterans". He did not contact the ministry, but handed over his work to the foundation, which then passed it on to the ministry, though without his involvement.
The charity foundation "Songs Born in the ATO" was founded by Volodymyr Yurchenko, a former deputy to Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration. Reznichenko headed the region twice – from 2016 to 2019 and from 2020 to 2023. It was during his second term that the "Great Construction" programme was launched – a large-scale presidential project to repair roads, schools and hospitals.
The wife of the fund’s current head is also linked to the regional administration. In 2017, Nataliia Shulika coordinated the eponymous festival "Songs Born in the ATO" on behalf of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration – at the time, she worked at the Centre for Assistance to ATO Participants under Reznichenko’s administration. She also headed the department for ATO participants within the same administration.
Yuriy Holyk, who served as Reznichenko’s adviser when the latter headed the Regional State Administration and acted as the "ideologist" and "curator" of the "Great Construction" programme, may also be involved in the veterans’ spaces programme. He publicly referred to the "Songs Born in the ATO" festival as "ours". Holyk himself confirmed his connection to the "Songs Born in the ATO" foundation. According to him, he has been involved in organising the festival of the same name since 2016, and following the full-scale invasion, he travelled abroad on behalf of this foundation on multiple occasions – delivering volunteer aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Holyk denied any involvement in the programme to build veterans’ centres.
What is Reznichenko suspected of?
On 12 September, the NABU and the SAPO announced that they had notified Valentyn Reznichenko, the former head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, of his suspicion in a case involving the infliction of 286 million hryvnias in losses during road repairs under martial law. Charges were also brought against the former deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, the former head of a department within the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, the former head of the road maintenance division of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, and the head of a private firm.
According to the investigation, the officials artificially inflated the funding for road repairs in the region under the guise of maintenance costs to 1.5 billion hryvnias. Contracts for the relevant works were signed for this amount with a company linked to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, which inflated the cost of materials by over 286 million hryvnias. Part of these funds was subsequently transferred to the accounts of other companies linked to the senior official and his deputy.
In April this year, NABU carried out searches at Reznichenko’s premises in connection with this case, and in December 2022, NABU detectives also conducted searches in Dnipro at the premises of individuals implicated in the criminal case.
Prior to this, journalists published an investigation into the link between Reznichenko and the company "Budinvest Engineering", which, following the outbreak of full-scale war, received 1.5 billion hryvnias from the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, headed by him, for road repairs. It turned out that until recently, the company’s founder was Yana Khlanta – a fitness trainer and close friend of Reznichenko. Following this, the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office opened criminal proceedings under the articles "abuse of power or official position" and "legalisation (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means".
"Budinvest Engineering" began earning money from contracts in the Dnipropetrovsk region in 2017, when Reznichenko first took the helm of the regional administration. According to the Spending system, earnings from road repairs peaked in 2021–2022, when Reznichenko took the helm of the Regional State Administration for the second time, and his adviser Yurii Holyk became a consultant for "Great Construction".
By 9 November, Khlanta had already stepped down as a founder; the firm’s main owner is now Pavlo Chukhno. He is the vice-president of the ‘Prometey’ sports club. The club’s president is Reznichenko’s long-time acquaintance, Volodymyr Dubynskyi. He and his brother Leonid are wanted in the US for fraud.
The Office of the President responded to the scandal by stating that conclusions would only be drawn based on the results of the law enforcement investigation. However, in January 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Reznichenko from his post as head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration.
