Catering contract in Mykolaiv awarded to defendants in case of embezzlement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

In Mykolaiv, a tender for 146 million hryvnias for schoolchildren's meals was awarded to a company with a mixed reputation. Previously, it was involved in a criminal case regarding catering services for the Territorial Defense units.

This is evidenced by data from the Prozorro procurement system.

At the end of July, the Education Department of Mykolaiv City Council announced an open tender with special conditions for catering services in the city's schools worth UAH 146.3 million. The services are to be provided for all secondary schools in Mykolaiv from September 1 to December 31, 2025. The auction was scheduled for August 7, but only one company, the Municipal Production Enterprise for Catering in Educational Institutions, applied to participate.

Screenshot: Prozorro

Intent decided to check the activities of this company. According to the YouControl analytical system, it was registered in 2000 in Mykolaiv with a registered capital of over UAH 581 thousand, and the founder is the Mykolaiv City Council. Over time, the company has repeatedly become the focus of journalistic investigations and even appeared in criminal proceedings.

In particular, the ruling of the Mykolaiv Court of Appeal shows that since March 2022, military officials, in collusion with representatives of public and private companies, have been abusing their positions during martial law. This concerned the procurement of catering services for military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Mykolaiv and Kherson regions (contract with S-Rostok LLC) and terrorist defense units in Mykolaiv.

The client of these contracts was the Executive Committee of the Mykolaiv City Council, and the contractor was the Municipal Production Enterprise for Catering in Educational Institutions. The contractor did not fulfill the terms of the contracts properly, which caused significant losses to the state budget.

The company earned more than UAH 1 billion from public tenders, of which the largest amount - more than UAH 238 million - was in 2025.

Screenshot: YouControl

The main customers were the Education Department of Mykolaiv City Council, the Executive Committee of the City Council, the Department of Labor and Social Protection, as well as lyceums and schools in the city. The media repeatedly reported facts of overpriced contracts and non-competitive tenders.

In early May, the Department of Education announced a tender for catering services in the city's kindergartens and a specialized school for visually impaired children. The expected cost of the procurement was UAH 71.8 million, and the contract was also awarded to the Municipal Production Enterprise for Catering in Educational Institutions.

Анна Бальчінос