Two underground schools continue to be built in Kherson, despite protests by local residents and Russian shelling. Journalists of the Bihus.Info project say that the contractors engaged in these constructions are related to representatives of the local administration.
At the beginning of October, while still at the stage of digging a pit for one of the future schools, a Russian guided aerial bomb flew nearby. The airstrike destroyed a school near the future underground shelter and damaged high-rise buildings around it. Due to the threat of repeated shelling, the locals opposed the construction and went to protests.
The Kherson City Military Administration assured that the shelling was not related to the construction, so they do not plan to stop it. Bihus.Info journalists analyzed the information about the contractors with whom the contracts were signed and found out that they are probably related to local officials.
The tender for 95 million hryvnias was awarded to the company "Alsvit Plus". From 2022, it was re-registered under Oleksandr Solovyan. The company is registered in Kyiv, but immediately started receiving state orders in Poltava — they were engaged in minor repairs of roads, residential areas, and reconstruction of medical facilities. Journalists found the companyʼs tenders to have inflated prices and failed deadlines for the delivery of objects, and later the company appeared in a criminal story about a conspiracy with the management of a local hospital.
In the spring of 2024, before the company started receiving orders in Kherson, the companyʼs director changed — Oleksandr Potelezhko from Kharkiv became him. Journalists of Bihus.Info found in the court register a decision from 2016, which states that at that time the soldier Potelezhko was drunk while on duty. Judging by the decision, the military prosecutor of the Luhansk garrison sent the materials regarding him to the court. At that time, it was Roman Mrochko, the current head of the Kherson City Military Administration.
In a comment to Bihus.Info, Mrochko noted that the prosecutorʼs office, which he managed, and his subordinates drew up a large number of administrative protocols for the commission of various offenses.
"He [Potelezhko] is unknown to me. If I did see him, it was once in the corridor at the prosecutorʼs office," he declared.
Another company — "Budpostach STSV" — received an order for an underground school for 90 million hryvnias. This company also repairs many of the simplest shelters in Kherson. Journalists of Bihus.Info tried to communicate with the contractors at their registered address in Kherson, but the office turned out to be closed. The neighbor told reporters that half an hour before their arrival, the builders removed the sign from the door and ran away from the premises.
"Budpostach STSV" is owned by several people, among them Oleksandr Novokhatskyi and Oleksandr Zahoskin. They studied together at the Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas.
Oleksandr Susak, a scientist and energy expert, who now as an entrepreneur also receives contracts for shelter repairs in Kherson and is Zahoskinʼs partner in another company, also worked there. Serhiy Orekhov, the current deputy head of the cityʼs military administration, also studied at this university at the same time when Susak was actively engaged in scientific activity there. Their specializations are also similar — Orekhov studied at the "Gas and oil pipelines and gas and oil storage" specialty, while Susak completed his laboratory practicum "Pipeline gas transport".
Oleksandr Susak refused to answer journalistsʼ questions, and Serhiy Orekhov allegedly could not remember such a person at all.
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