16 June 2026
(Clearing minefields. PHOTO: State Emergency Service)
The Snigurivka District Court of Mykolaiv Oblast approved a plea agreement involving a mechanical engineer at the "VIOL-PLUS" farming enterprise. The man was found guilty of aiding and abetting official forgery, which led to the unjustified transfer of 29 million hryvnias in budget funds to private companies for fictitious field cleaning.
This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations, citing the court’s verdict.
In September 2025, the state-funded institution "Center for Humanitarian Demining" announced two tenders for clearing agricultural land of mines in the Bashtanka district. Two private entities were selected as winners:
The investigation established that the management of the contracting firms knew that the specified lands had already been cleared of minesin previous years and were actively being cultivated by farmers. Between December 2025 and January 2026, the deminers merely pretended to be working. They stayed in forest plantations near the fields, moved explosive objects for the purpose of taking photo reports, and placed marking flags.
The accused engineer of the agricultural firm knew that the fields had been sown but no work was being done; nevertheless, he agreed to sign the fictitious documents so that the farm could receive official land safety certificates more quickly.
In January and February 2026, he signed acceptance and transfer reports for the services provided. Based on these official documents, the government agency transferred a total of 29 million hryvnias to the companies.
During the pre-trial investigation, the defendant cooperated with the investigation and entered into a plea agreement. The man provided incriminating testimony against other organizers of the scheme and voluntarily transferred <b>3 million hryvnias</b> in damages to the account of the State Treasury Service of Ukraine.
The court found the engineer guilty of aiding and abetting official forgery, which resulted in serious consequences. He was sentenced to <b>two years in prison</b>, with a one-year ban on engaging in humanitarian deminingactivities, and a fine of 8,500 hryvnias. However, he<b>was released from the main sentence with a one-year probationary period</b>.
Earlier, law enforcement officials uncovered a large-scale scheme to embezzle budget funds allocated for humanitarian demining in the Kherson region. Vitaliy Karavaev, a former official of the Kherson Regional State Administration, was involved in the scheme.
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