In Kherson, a suspect accused of causing millions in losses at a school shelter was released on bail

An engineer is suspected of causing 8.8 million hryvnia in damages during the construction of a shelter for a school in Kherson. However, he may be released on bail of 33,000 hryvnia.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations.

According to the ruling, an investigating judge at the Zavodskyi District Court in Mykolaiv ordered bail for the technical supervisor, who is suspected of professional negligence during the construction of a radiation shelter.

According to the investigation, the man was responsible for technical supervision of the construction of a civil defense shelter on the grounds of General Education School No. 41 in Kherson on Kashtanova Street. The work was carried outby Budpostach-STSV LLC under a contract with the Capital Construction Department of the Kherson City Council.

As established by the investigation, from December 2024 to April 2025, the engineer failed to properly verify the actual scope and quality of the work performed.

Despite this, he signed acceptance certificates for the completed construction work, confirming that the work had been completed in full. A forensic construction and technical examination determined that the actual volume of work performed did not fully correspond to the data specified in the documents.

In particular, some certificates overstated the amount of rebar and bitumen mastic used.

It also emerged that the actual strength class of the concrete in several structures was significantly lower than that specified in the project. Due to these discrepancies, the cost of the work performed was overstated by 8 million 860 thousand hryvnias.

Investigators consider this amount to be financial damage caused to the Capital Construction Department of the Kherson City Council. On June 19, 2026, the man was notified of his status as a suspect under Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code—official negligence resulting in serious consequences.

In court, the prosecutor insisted on setting bail at 20 times the minimum subsistence level—66,560 hryvnias.

The suspect’s defense attorney objected to the motion, emphasizing that the alleged risks were unfounded.

He noted that the defendant admits guilt, is of retirement age, and supports his elderly mother, and therefore requested that the minimum bail amount be set.

The suspect himself also objected to the prosecution’s motion during the court hearing.

The investigating judge partially granted the motion and set bail at 10 times the minimum subsistence level for able-bodied persons—33,280 hryvnias.

In addition, the suspect was subject to a number of obligations: to notify the investigator of any change of residence or employment, to appear when summoned by the investigator or the court, to surrender his passport for travel abroad for safekeeping, and to refrain from communicating with employees of

the Infrastructure Department of the Kherson Regional State Administration, except when participating in investigative proceedings.

These obligations remain in effect until August 19, 2026.

It should be noted that the investigation into the embezzlement of funds during the construction of shelters for educational institutions in Kherson has been ongoing since 2024.

Currently, three companies are implicated in the case—“Tensens,” “Budpostach-STSV,” and “Megaplan Fast”—along with their executives and technical supervision engineers.

The most prominent suspect is the former head of “Budpostach-STSV,” Oleksandr Novokhatskyi. He was arrested in January 2025.

Ірина Глухова