Shelter for Kherson school worth 82 million remains unfinished

In Kherson, the contract for the construction of a radiation shelter for a school for UAH 82 million was canceled. The contractor was a company involved in cases of embezzlement of budget funds.

The Center forPublic Investigations investigated why the project was not completed and what corruption risks the contractor's activities revealed.

In August 2023, the Capital Construction Department of the Kherson City Council initiated the construction of a modern shelter for Higher Vocational School No. 2 on the DREAM platform. The total cost of the project was UAH 92 million. Full funding was indicated on the platform, but in fact, the work was completed by only 11.8%.

In December 2024, the Capital Construction Department of the Kherson City Council announced a tender for the construction of a shelter. The expected cost was over UAH 82 million. The contract was awarded to Tensens without competition.

SCREENSHOT: Prozorro

According to YouControl, the company was founded in Kyiv in 2023 and has an authorized capital of UAH 185 thousand. During its operation, the company's owners and managers changed frequently. In 2024, Maksym Serdiuk, who used to work as a taxi driver, became the new beneficiary. Almost immediately, the first multimillion-dollar contract was signed with him.

Until 2024, the company did not participate in public tenders. It received almost UAH 9 million for the construction of a shelter for the school, and more than UAH 25 million for the shelter for school No. 55. The customer in both cases was the Capital Construction Department of the Kherson City Council. However, according to Opendatabot, the company earned more than UAH 169 million in 2024.

The contract stipulated that the company would receive all payment for the construction of the radiation shelter in 2025. The contractor had to build a one-story, 1052-square-meter structure for 296 people by August 2025. According to the court's ruling, overpayments were recorded in almost every third line of the list of materials published by the contractor.

The company is also involved in a criminal case for overstating the scope of work. According to the Kherson court ruling, investigators were checking a contract dated December 2024 for the construction of a shelter for school No. 55, which was to be completed by August 2025. The court allowed the seizure of documents for inspection.

SCREEN SHOT: YouControl

In July 2025, the contract with the company was terminated due to delays and shortcomings in the work that were not eliminated in time. Thus, the construction of shelters in Kherson, despite large budget expenditures, turned into a series of suspicious contracts with frequent changes of ownership and dubious companies.

Earlier, the construction of a school shelter was ordered without an auction in Vysokopillia, Kherson region. In total, hundreds of millions have already been spent on the construction of the shelter in this school, which was received by companies previously accused of embezzlement and associated with the deputy head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration.

Анна Бальчінос