Batteries spark suspicions: AMCU uncovers collusion in tenders in Mykolaiv

14 May 2026 the administrative board of the Southern Interregional Territorial Department of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine adopted decisions at once regarding several procurements carried out by municipal and housing-and-communal enterprises of the Mykolaiv City Council.

The antimonopoly authority found signs of collusion among participants in open tenders. In all cases, these were anticompetitive coordinated actions that could have distorted the procurement results.

One of the cases concerned open tenders for the purchase of batteries. They were held by one of the housing-and-communal enterprises of the Mykolaiv City Council in 2025. The expected value of the procurement amounted to 4,216,800 hryvnias. According to the Southern ITD of the AMCU, sole proprietor Tkachenko M.O. and sole proprietor Chornovol S.M. acted in a coordinated manner during that procurement. For violating competition law, sole proprietor Chornovol S.M. was fined 68,000 hryvnias. No fine was imposed on sole proprietor Tkachenko M.O. because her activities were terminated on 28 February 2025. The AMCU explained that after termination of activity such a natural person is no longer a business entity within the meaning of the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of Economic Competition”.

Another case concerned procurements of goods for video communication. At the end of 2024, one of the municipal enterprises of the Mykolaiv City Council held open tenders for two lots. Participants included sole proprietor Seletska H.V. and sole proprietor Shychanina L.V. As a result of the case review, the Southern ITD of the AMCU also established coordinated behavior by the tender participants. Sole proprietor Shychanina L.V. was fined 68,000 hryvnias. No fine was applied to sole proprietor Seletska H.V. because her entrepreneurial activity was terminated on 29 October 2025, and therefore she is no longer a business entity.

Separately, the AMCU reviewed another procurement of goods for video communication that was conducted by one of the housing-and-communal enterprises of the Mykolaiv City Council in 2025. The expected value of this procurement amounted to 2,183,700 hryvnias. In this case the respondents were sole proprietor Tkachenko M.O. and sole proprietor Shychanina L.V. The antimonopoly authority also concluded there were anticompetitive coordinated actions. For this, sole proprietor Shychanina L.V. was again fined 68,000 hryvnias. No fine was imposed on sole proprietor Tkachenko M.O. due to the termination of her activity on 28 February 2025.

The AMCU reminded that if a participant has been held liable for collusion in tenders within the last three years, this may be grounds to refuse them participation in future public procurements. Such data are entered into the consolidated information on the distortion of tender results, which is constantly updated on the website of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.

Earlier we wrote:

• In the Mykolaiv region, authorities handed out budget money to business but hid the winners
• Trams ran, money flowed: investigators took up multimillion contracts of electric transport
• Instead of heat — losses and breakdowns: a multimillion scheme uncovered in Mykolaiv region
• Work wasn’t checked, but the money was given: strange multimillion procurements surfaced in Mykolaiv region
• Mykolaiv’s budget losses of 1.2 million: the “procurement” of traffic lights ended with a trial of Senkevych’s subordinate