Mykolaiv's budget was shortchanged: the prosecutor's office is suing a company previously managed by Kim

The District Prosecutor’s Office of Mykolaiv has filed a lawsuit with the Commercial Court of Mykolaiv region against LLC “Arena Sport Mykolaiv”. Law enforcement believes that during construction the company understated its value and therefore underpaid the mandatory communal contribution for the development of the city’s infrastructure. Overall the prosecutor’s office is seeking to recover about 235 thousand hryvnias. This was reported on 14 September 2026 by the investigative journalism center Nikcenter.

According to journalists, the debt itself amounts to about 169 thousand hryvnias. The rest of the sum consists of interest and inflation charges. The prosecutor’s position is that the developer artificially reduced the declared construction cost, as a result of which less money was paid into the Mykolaiv budget than should have been paid. The lawsuit is already under consideration by the Commercial Court of Mykolaiv region. The next hearing is scheduled for 13 October 2026.

Journalists paid particular attention to the company’s connections. According to Nikcenter citing YouControl, in 2011-2016 LLC “Arena Sport Mykolaiv” was headed by Vitaliy Kim, who since 16 July 2026 has held the position of Minister for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine. His current position is confirmed by the Cabinet of Ministers’ official website.

Currently the director of “Arena Sport Mykolaiv” in public registers is listed as Valeria Kosikova. The company was registered on 12 May 2011, and its main activity is the organization of building construction. According to current Opendatabot data, 90% of the company’s share capital belongs to LLC “Silent”, and another 10% to Olha Kim. The ultimate beneficial owner of LLC “Silent” is listed as Oleksandr Stepanov.

Nikcenter calls Oleksandr Stepanov a businessman linked to Vitaliy Kim. The defendant in the case is the legal entity – LLC “Arena Sport Mykolaiv”. It is now up to the court to determine whether the company indeed miscalculated the amount of the communal contribution and whether it must return to the city the 235 thousand hryvnias claimed by the prosecutor’s office.

Earlier we wrote:

• City council was inactive: prosecutor recovered UAH 4.4 million from the owner of the shopping center for land
• Prosecutor demands UAH 15 million for the lease of 14.6 ha of ChSZ – media say it is Novinsky’s structure
• In Mykolaiv, the court seized Novinsky’s property over a debt of UAH 34 million!
• “Poor” firm associated with Kim will build a school shelter in the Mykolaiv region for UAH 59 million
• Mykolaiv city council “forgot” about UAH 9 million from the high-rise developer