No miracle happened: the dormitories for Mariupol residents will be guarded by a familiar agency funded by the budget.

Almost 10 million hryvnias annually will be allocated for the security of social housing for residents of Mariupol and office spaces for officials, traditionally managed by the armed division of the National Police from the Donetsk region. The municipal enterprise responsible for dormitories has yet to explain why a person with a gun, in a bulletproof vest and helmet, is required to be "on duty." There are also concerns regarding the misuse of budget funds spent by the authorities of the temporarily occupied city to address the housing needs of ordinary citizens.

"Telegraph" examined the responses from officials of the Mariupol City Council, judicial decisions, and "recent" announcements regarding tenders.

Without analytical work, an answer regarding the arms is impossible

In recent days of 2024, it became known that in 2025, the executive committee of the Mariupol City Council will continue to spend funds on security for both the premises occupied by officials in Dnipro and dormitories in Dnipro, Kyiv, and Chernivtsi. In the first case, this amounts to 652.5 thousand hryvnias annually, while in the second case, it is 9 million 198 thousand hryvnias. As in the previous year, the Mariupol interdistrict department of the police protection management in the Donetsk region will provide these services, having been the sole participant and thus the winner of tenders for several years. Both ordinary Mariupol residents and local deputies, particularly Maxim Borodin, have criticized expenditures in this area.

The executive committee of the Mariupol City Council has decided to distance itself from the controversial topic. Out of a dozen questions regarding the implementation of the "Yamariupol.Housing" program posed by "Telegraph," officials randomly selected one regarding the feasibility of organizing round-the-clock security points in social housing with armed police involvement and responded: "The Mariupol City Council and its executive committee have not procured security services." Meanwhile, responsible officials ignored even general questions about the number of Mariupol residents who have already received rooms in dormitories, the conditions in which they live, plans for the development of social housing for the current year, as well as the expenditures allocated for this item.

The management of the municipal institution "Mariupol City Social Dormitory" was more verbose. In response to our publication's inquiry, Director Sergey Kesariev stated that only the facility in Dnipro at Liza Chaikina Street, 2 (new name: King’s Infantry Street) is fully occupied. Here, temporary housing has been provided for 121 Mariupol residents. Another 306 have settled in Dnipro at Nila Armstrong Street, 36, while 57 Mariupol residents have moved into a dormitory in Kyiv at Prazhskaya Street, 34, and the process of settling there continues. The executive committee of the Mariupol City Council makes decisions regarding the allocation of housing. Residents sign a loan agreement (for free use), according to which "the user does not have the right to privatize, exchange, divide, rent out, or allow other citizens to reside in the provided living space for temporary residence."

Accordingly, Mariupol residents do not pay for housing but are required to compensate for consumed utility services—heating, water supply, electricity, etc. Other expenses, "necessary for creating proper living conditions (maintenance of dormitory property) and organizing daily life, payment for dormitory management services, maintenance of duty administrators, other personnel, installation and maintenance of video surveillance and fire alarm systems are covered by budget funds." The maintenance of the three aforementioned dormitories will cost the Mariupol community budget 16 million 129 thousand hryvnias. Additionally, it is planned to renovate and launch two more as social housing in the city of Chernivtsi (Almasova Street, 6) and Dnipro (Lazaryana Street, 2) within the year.

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Representatives of the police protection will be on duty 24/7 at these five facilities throughout 2025. The organization of such posts, as stated in the response from the head of the municipal institution, is necessitated by the need to "ensure access control and prevent unauthorized persons from entering the dormitories, conduct measures to maintain public safety and order in the dormitories, and safeguard property acquired with budget funds or received from charitable organizations and used by residents of the dormitories. In 2024, their operation cost the city budget 2 million 548 thousand hryvnias, and in 2025, expenses are expected to grow 3.6 times to reach 9 million 198 thousand hryvnias, as reported.

At the same time, the director did not find it necessary to explain to the public why the technical conditions specify such a type of armament and equipment (bulletproof vest, helmet, firearms) for those who will be on duty at the security posts. This condition, as noted by Mariupol residents, significantly limits the pool of tender participants, which is why they proceed without competition. The municipal institution concluded that the response would require "conducting analytical work." Meanwhile, they assured "Telegraph" that the contract does not stipulate involving the tender winner in any work other than the security of social housing.

Despite comments, repairs remain ongoing

Although the Mariupol City Council continues to implement the "Yamariupol.Housing" project, there have been questions from financial controllers and law enforcement regarding already "launched" facilities. An audit conducted by specialists from the Eastern Office of the State Audit Office in the Donetsk region in the spring of 2024 revealed violations amounting to tens of millions of hryvnias. For instance, over 43 million hryvnias were transferred to companies that could not be located at their registered addresses (both actual and legal). This hindered the "conduct of counter-checks; auditors were unable to verify the legitimacy of multimillion financial transactions and informed the State Financial Monitoring Service of this fact." Additionally, Mariupol officials overpaid five contractors repairing premises in Lviv and Dnipro, including temporary housing for IDPs, by 1.1 million hryvnias. Furthermore, they purchased equipment at inflated prices, and some of the equipment could not be located by the controllers. Some funds (the amount not specified on the website) were partially returned to the municipal enterprise by the companies.

"Moreover, the company that repaired the former dormitory in Dnipro for IDPs classified these works as current repairs, despite conducting roof, ceiling, floor, and wall restorations, replacing structural elements of the building, and even constructing an individual heating point, which are considered capital repairs and require obtaining permitting documentation," the State Audit Office reported.

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In addition, law enforcement officials investigating the activities of Mariupol officials within the framework of a criminal case opened under part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine also found that the types of repairs were incorrectly indicated in the documents. This was not accidental. "The consequences of the intentional misclassification by the customer of the procurement subject as current repair instead of capital repairs include the absence of construction projects and project expertise, lack of permission from the State Inspection for Architecture and Urban Planning of Ukraine (DIAM) to commence construction works, and evasion of liability for violations in the form of fines, as well as the absence of technical and authorial supervision, which in turn may lead to a decline in the quality of performed works due to the lack of certain control links over their execution," this is how the actions of officials are explained in the ruling of the Lenin District Court of Dnipro. Additionally, police had questions regarding the cost of equipment used by one of the contractors during construction works. The inspection showed that it could be inflated by 13-30%. However, it remains unclear how the investigation concluded.

The authorities in Mariupol disagreed with the audit findings and litigated against the auditors. In 2024, the case reached the First Appellate Administrative Court, which denied the plaintiff—the municipal enterprise "City Capital Construction Management"—the satisfaction of its claims. Thus, contractors are required to return to the budget the funds they received "as a result of payment for inflated volumes and costs of completed works." As stated in the court ruling dated December 23, 2024, this specifically concerns 606 thousand hryvnias that LLC "ARCHSTROYTECHNADZOR" "earned" for repairing the 2-4 floors and roof of the former dormitory at Liza Chaikina Street, 2 (new name: King’s Infantry Street). Another 419 thousand hryvnias were wrongfully obtained by LLC "Opitny Zavod M" during the renovation of the "Yamariupol" center premises (Andrey Fabry Street, 10 in Dnipro). 40.5 thousand hryvnias account for unverified administrative expenses of LLC "Doris" during works at the "Yamariupol.Care" household center in Lviv.

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