Odesa parks: who collects millions on city streets

A post on Facebook by Tetyana Trandasir from Odesa about how an hour of parking near Kyiv Market cost her almost 4,000 UAH instead of 30 UAH garnered two thousand likes and several hundred shares and comments. Among the righteous indignation, theories about fraudulent schemes, and offers of help were questions that Intent had been looking for answers to for several weeks. Namely: Why are we paying to Yablonska's private entrepreneur instead of the city budget? Are parking lots in Odesa officially leased to private entrepreneurs? Today, Intent is ready to answer these questions.

Municipal and private parking lots

The current parking tariff in the central part of the city, namely UAH 30 per hour, was approved by the executive committee of the Odesa City Council in January 2025. The specialized utility Odestransparkservice, headed by Yevhen Tyabus, is responsible for parking. The company has set up a number of parking lots with parking meters, information stands and instructions on how to pay for parking on the spot. The company has also entered into a number of agreements with private parking providers, including not only the individual entrepreneur Yablonska mentioned in the comments, but also public organizations that manage thousands of square meters and pay a pittance to the budget.

Yevropeiska, Rishelievska, Hretska - these streets are located in the very center of Odesa. Parking lots here are always packed with cars - Odesa residents and guests come here on business or vacation. A number of parking lots are equipped with information stands with QR codes to pay for parking. One hour costs 30 hryvnias. Paid parking lots are open from 9 am to 6 pm. After that, parking is free.

PHOTO: Olena Chernysheva

Most of the parking lots in the center of Odesa are on the balance sheet of Odestransparkservice. It is the account of the utility that receives money for parked cars.

But not only that. For example, according to the Odesa Department of Transport, Communications and Traffic Organization, private entrepreneur K.O. Yablonska is a parking operator near two large Odesa markets - Novyi in Prymorskyi district and Kyivskyi in Kyivskyi district. Thus, since 2018, the private entrepreneur has been operating as a parking operator on the territory of almost 3 thousand square meters on Yaroslav Mudryi Street. Of these, more than 400 square meters are privileged. These are actually parking pockets on the road along Kyivskyi Market. The entrepreneur also had 1.7 thousand square meters of parking spaces at Dolphin Beach, but the contract with the municipal utility expired in 2025. Instead, since 2024, Yablonskaya has signed three agreements for the maintenance of parking lots around the New Market in the city center - on Torgovaya and Knyazevsky Lane. The total area is more than 1,500 square meters, of which approximately 235 square meters are privileged. According to the city council, from 2020 to 2025, it will transfer UAH 7.4 million to the budget.

PHOTO: Olena Chernysheva

The entrepreneur pays money to the budget of Odesa: in 2020 - more than 330 thousand UAH (at the same time, according to the declaration of her husband, an official, her income from business that year was only 212.3 thousand UAH), in 2021 - about 604 thousand UAH (business income increased to 968.8 thousand UAH), in 2022 there was neither income nor payment, in 2023 - almost 770 thousand UAH (income reached 989 thousand UAH). Since 2024, revenues from Yablonska have increased as it has registered additional parking spaces. Thus, in 2024, the community budget was replenished by almost UAH 2 million (and it has already received UAH 3.3 million from business), and last year - by UAH 3.6 million(earning UAH 8.4 million). The balance maintenance agreements for parking lots in Novyi and Kyivskyi markets are valid until 2029.

FIGURE: AI based on Intent data

It is interesting that despite having such a successful and visible business in the city, the entrepreneur herself is as non-public as possible. There are no mentions of her business in Odesa on her Facebook page - only her children and husband. So we looked closely at her husband, who turned out to be much more public.

Teplodar official and Odesa parking lot

Karina Oleksandrivna Yablonska, 34, registered as an individual entrepreneur in 2016. Two years later, she signed her first parking lot maintenance contract in Odesa. The sole proprietorship is in the third taxation group with a 5% tax rate.

The husband of the Odesa entrepreneur is a local politician and businessman, Andrii Makovetskyi. In 2020, he ran for the Odesa city and district councils from the For the Future party, which is associated with oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. However, he did not become a deputy, and in 2021 he became the first deputy mayor of Teplodar for the executive bodies of the council.

It is noteworthy that the paid parking lot along Molodizhnyi Square in Peresypskyi district of Odesa is registered to the individual entrepreneur S. Kosheva. In 2020, Svitlana Kosheva also ran for the Odesa City Council as a candidate of the For the Future party. And in 2024, Kosheva 's sole proprietorship entered into agreements with Teplodar customers for budgetary funds. Therefore, it is quite possible that the Odesa "parking attendant" Svitlana Kosheva is familiar with the family of the Odesa "parking attendants" Makovetskyi-Yablonska.

Prozorro and Yukontrol screens

In 2022, Karina Yablonska became the head of the public organization "Teplodar Energetik Sports Club". Her husband actively promoted the topic of sports in the city council. Perhaps he was also responsible for procurement in Teplodar, and that is why the email address that his wife Yablonska provided when registering as a private entrepreneur matches the email address of the procurement contact person of the executive committee of the Teplodar City Council.

In Teplodar, he is still listed as an advisor to the mayor. However, it seems that it is in Odesa that the Makovetskyi family lives, where they have their business and a lot of real estate, while in Teplodar they have only two land plots registered in Yablonska's name.

Andrii Makovetskyi (left). SCREEN SHOT: Makovetskyi's Facebook page

In 2024, Makovetskyi joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine, although he had four children as dependents at the time. Judging by the official's declaration, he did not serve for long: in 2025, Makovetskyi no longer received a salary as a military officer. The family is supported by his wife, who earned almost UAH 8.5 million from her business last year. It is noteworthy that Karina Yablonska is not involved in any other business, except for paid parking in Odesa, so it seems that it is this business that brought the family these millions in income.

"I tried to find out who she is (Karina Yablonska - ed.) and why people with the emblem of the city executive committee work for a private entrepreneur? I was told that this individual entrepreneur was setting up a parking lot. What kind of parking lot? A roadway? And why, on a day when all parking lots in the city are free (on weekends), do they charge a fee? Who are they? Who gave them the authority?" - reads one of the comments to Tetiana Trandasir's post.

We also tried to find out from private entrepreneur Karina Yablonska. In addition, we wanted to know how she entered into the agreement with the city. However, we were unable to get a comment: after repeated attempts to contact the businesswoman, we received a call from her representative, Serhiy Dudarenko, who promised to answer all questions. However, at the time of publication, no answers to our questions had been received.

In a comment to Intent, Yevhen Tyabus, director of Odestransparkservice, said that in 2024, Yablonska won a tender to determine operators of paid parking lots in Odesa. It was held by the Odesa Department of Transport, Communications and Traffic Organization. It was after the tender that the utility company signed an agreement with the entrepreneur.

We asked the department about the details of the tender: the conditions, the number of participants, and Yablonska's proposal. But at the time of publication, no response was received.

Quarters for the father of an Odesa MP

Another operator in the central part of the city with whom Odesa utilities have signed an agreement is the public organization Sirena. It has its own specifics - they control those parking lots that operate as parking lots, i.e. around the clock. These parking lots are equipped with booths, and parking attendants in green vests are on duty, who probably collect the fee from drivers on hand. However, according to the law, says Vitaliy Husak, a lawyer with the NGO Anti-Corruption Headquarters, parking lots and parking garages must operate through a registrar of payment transactions and, accordingly, issue fiscal receipts upon receipt of payment.

According to Odestransparkservis, from 2019 to 2023, the NGO Sirena leased almost 690 square meters of parking at 119 Lustdorfska Road from the city. In addition, since 2019, the NGO has received parking spaces for entire blocks: on Yevreyska Street - from Evropeiska to Italiiska, on Bazarna Street - from Evropeiska to Korzhenka (formerly Osypova), a block in Otonivsky Lane (formerly Nekrasova) and a block on Karavansky Street. The total area of parking spaces is almost 5.6 thousand square meters. Sirena's agreements with the city are valid until the end of 2026. Perhaps they will be extended.

PHOTO: Olena Chernysheva

We have calculated the approximate turnover of funds for parking on this territory. The area of 5.6 thousand square meters can accommodate approximately 560 cars, one parking space per day brings an average of UAH 100, so only a rough estimate is UAH 20.4 million per year. Of course, we should deduct expenses, salaries, etc. But we are talking about money turnover only. We propose to compare this amount with the amount of money that comes to the city budget from the NGO Sirena.

In 2020, the NGO transferred UAH 137 thousand to the city budget, in 2021 - UAH 190 thousand, in 2022 - UAH 15.4 thousand, in 2023 - about UAH 96 thousand, in 2024 - UAH 177 thousand, and last year - UAH 228 thousand. Thus, over the five years of such a balance, Odesa's budget has been replenished by only UAH 840 thousand.

At the same time, according to Opendatabot, from 2021 to 2023, Sirena showed zero income, and in 2024 and 2025, the organization's annual income was almost equal to the budget payments.

INFOGRAPHICS: AI according to Intent

NGO Sirena was registered in 2002. The founders of the organization are three people - Pavlo Stas, Oleksandr Rozin, and Anatolii Meilitsev. Pavlo Stas is the father of Eduard Stas, a multiple deputy of the Odesa City Council. In 2020, he was elected to the city council from the European Solidarity party.

Eduard Stas. Photo from Facebook

As for Pavlo Stas, he was a former military man and has been suing for many years for recalculating his pension. In 2025, Stas won a pension of more than 43 thousand UAH per month. And it seems that a parking business in Odesa is a good addition to his pension.

In a comment to Intent, Eduard Stas noted that his father is an adult of retirement age, a former colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who lives his own separate life:

"I objectively cannot know all the details of his affairs related to public activities, courts or any other issues. I would also like to point out that I have never had and do not have anything to do with any parking lots, parking garages or any parking business. Therefore, in my opinion, one should not look for "corruption sensations" where they cannot exist a priori just because someone saw a familiar name among the founders of the organization that coincides with the name of a city council member ," the deputy emphasized, considering the issue of his father's pension to be "interference in a person's private life."

Dozens of contracts

Odestransparkservice, which has been headed by Yevhen Tyabus since 2019, reported that 88 parking lot maintenance agreements are currently in effect in Prymorskyi district. These agreements include contracts with supermarkets, business centers, construction companies, hotels, etc. that rent parking spaces from the city for their customers and employees.

As Vitaliy Gusak explained in a commentary to Intent, such parking lots are not equipped with parking machines and automatic entry and exit terminals.

According to the contract, these companies pay 0.03% of the minimum wage per day of operation per square meter to the budget. Odesa deputies adopted the relevant decision back in 2011 during the term of Mayor Oleksiy Kostusev.

For example, a supermarket on Preobrazhenska Street, which leases 130.5 square meters for parking from the city, has to pay about UAH 120 thousand in 2026. At the same time, the supermarket does not make money on parking, because these are spaces for customers. At the same time, the NGO Sirena, which is the parking operator, paid UAH 228 thousand to the city budget in 2025 for 5.6 thousand square meters of parking spaces, which is only twice as much.

A typical agreement for the balance maintenance of a parking lot between a business and Odestransparkservice

A job for men

Another parking operator operates in the center of Odesa. A kiosk is set up between Starobazarnyi Square and Preobrazhenska Street, with an ad for a parking dispatcher stuck to it.

The phone number belongs to 71-year-old Dmytro Ivanovych Tsykolanov, at least this is the number that was indicated when he registered as a sole proprietor in 2021. Today, this sole proprietor is already in a state of termination. However, Dmytro Tsykolanov is a co-founder of the NGO "Parking-O ", which was registered in 2017. It seems that this organization operates the parking business.

SCREEN SHOT: YouControl

An Intent journalist called the phone number and asked about the working conditions of a dispatcher. She was immediately warned that only men were hired:

"This is a daily job. If we agree, it can be a day in two, three or five. You can sleep in the booth from 12 midnight to five in the morning. You don't have to sleep all day, because you won't earn anything... You don't have to do anything - the rope is pulled up, the rope is lowered. It's a parking lot. You collect money. A man came for an hour or two, you parked him, he gave you money, it's yours."

Probably, the money from the parking lot on Marazliyivska Street, which is close to Shevchenko Park, will also be "ours." There is also a parking booth with a parking attendant and designated parking spaces. But it was not possible to establish who collects money from drivers here.

Parking lot along Marazliyivska Street. PHOTO: Olena Chernysheva

"Cash payment is an allowed payment method, but it must be accompanied by a parking ticket and/or fiscal check. The absence of a payment document is not only a violation, but also a reason for the State Tax Service to respond," explained lawyer Vitaliy Gusak.

According to Yevhen Tyabus, director of Odestransparkservice, the utility company and the operators of NGO Sirena and NGO Parking-O have signed agreements on the balance maintenance of parking spaces:

"The operators pay a fee to the budget of the Odesa city territorial community... After the reconstruction of the streets at the addresses where these specially designated parking lots are located and the transfer of the paid parking lots to Odestransparkservice, the company will independently perform the functions of the operator of paid parking lots."

But Tyabus did not say when this would happen.

As a reminder, parking lots should also work with a registrar of payment transactions and issue fiscal checks. However, there are still semi-legal parking lots in Odesa that operate without proper registration, and the budget receives a pittance in return. Although there are questions about officially registered parking lots, as the intermediary earns many times more than the city. So the question arises: why does the city need such intermediaries, given that the fee for a parked car in Odesa is collected by the hour, not by the fact of stay?

Since some of the interviewees did not have time to provide their answers, the editors are ready to present their position if they do.

This article was produced with the support of the "Stronger Together: Media and Democracy" program implemented by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) in partnership with the Association of Independent Regional Publishers of Ukraine (AIRPU) and the Norwegian Media Business Association (MBL) with support from Norway. The views of the authors do not necessarily reflect the official position of the program partners.

Олена Чернишова