49 million disappeared under the guise of demining: a large-scale scheme was uncovered in Mykolaiv region
Agreements were concluded through the Center for Humanitarian Demining, and reports were also forged concerning sites in the Chernihiv and Kherson regions
In Mykolaiv Oblast, an episode of a scheme involving fictitious humanitarian demining of agricultural land was uncovered, as a result of which 49.2 million UAH were unjustifiably transferred from the budget, the Office of the Prosecutor General reported.
According to the investigation, in 2024–2025 a group of interconnected companies participated in tenders for demining agricultural land in Chernihiv, Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts.
After signing contracts with the Humanitarian Demining Center, the contractors were supposed to survey and clear the areas of explosive ordnance, but the actual work was not carried out: instead activities were simulated and false information about allegedly cleared plots was entered into the official documentation.
A separately documented episode concerns Mykolaiv Oblast: for fictitiously performed works, 49.2 million UAH of budget funds were transferred to the contractors’ accounts.
Investigators established that the sapper teams only stayed near the “mined” fields without carrying out real surveys and clearance of the areas, and also recorded discussions about attempts to stage the discovery of munitions to validate the fictitious work.
Notices of suspicion were sent to 6 suspects — company managers, leaders of the sapper teams, and an agricultural enterprise — who are accused of misappropriating budget funds in especially large amounts.
Within the same criminal proceeding, suspicions had previously been announced regarding similar episodes of fictitious demining in other regions of Ukraine; the pre-trial investigation continues.
Earlier we wrote:
- Tall grass may hide death: sappers destroyed shells in the Halytsynivka community
- Fictitious demining of land: a court in Mykolaiv Oblast reviewed a case about the misappropriation of 29 million UAH
- After demining in Halytsynivka, the first pines and maples were planted on the burn sites
- Mykolaiv divers use drones to de-mine the waters of the Southern Bug
- In the Halytsynivka tract, artillery shells “Smerch” and “Uragan” were destroyed
