88 million for a bridge without competition: how Kim’s team controls tenders in Mykolaiv region

88 million for a bridge without competition: how Kim’s team controls tenders in Mykolaiv region

People’s Deputy Vitaliy Kim has effectively turned Mykolaiv region into his own structure for absorbing multi-million budget funds.

Mykolaiv region has become an example of how the war revealed not only the scale of destruction, but also the level of appetite among local authorities. Under the slogans of “restoration,” budget funds here are spent not on real needs, but on formal disbursement. While residents of the region remained without water for months and damaged facilities stayed unchanged, head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration Vitaliy Kim focused on building his public image. A team of officials has formed around him that controls the main financial flows. It is through this vertical that the largest infrastructure contracts pass.

On May 13, 2026, a tender was announced in the amount of UAH 88,522,564 for the operational maintenance of the Pivdennyi Buh Bridge on the M-14 highway. The contracting authority is the Service for Restoration and Development of Infrastructure in Mykolaiv region. The procurement was conducted as a single lot without division, which immediately narrows the circle of potential participants.

The project is being implemented with the participation of three key officials: head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration Vitaliy Kim, head of the State Agency for Restoration and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine Mustafa Sukhomlyn, and head of the Restoration Service in Mykolaiv region Andriy Antoshchuk. All important decisions are made within this circle, allowing control over tender conditions even before its announcement.

Qualification requirements are formulated in such a way as to suit only a limited number of companies: a participant must have a full fleet of equipment, vehicles, and its own material and technical base even before signing the contract. For most market companies, such conditions are unaffordable, since equipment is usually mobilized for a specific contract. As a result, a significant portion of potential contractors is filtered out already at the qualification stage.

Under these conditions, EDBK LLC consistently wins, having already received over UAH 2.28 billion in budget contracts. The company fully meets all criteria and has the necessary resources. Other participants are rejected due to technical or documentary requirements. Under such conditions, the tender outcome becomes predictable.

The documentation contains an excessive number of requirements: a full package of contracts, KB-2v acts, KB-3 certificates, additional agreements, and detailed transport schemes. Any, even minor, discrepancy can become grounds for rejection of the bid. This creates a mechanism of selective admission to bidding.

Complaints have already been sent to regulatory and law enforcement agencies demanding verification of: the legality of not dividing the procurement into lots, the requirement for a full set of equipment, the requirement for an own or engaged road laboratory at the bid submission stage, and the requirement to confirm experience through KB-2v acts, KB-3 certificates, and additional agreements.

While Vitaliy Kim maintains the image of “one of the guys,” the system under his control distributes tens of millions of hryvnias through tenders with limited competition. Instead of real competition of proposals and price reduction, a mechanism operates to filter out “outsiders” and let through “insiders.” As a result, budget funds are spent according to a predetermined scenario. The issue is no longer about a single tender, but about how many such “restorations” are being carried out in the interests of a narrow circle of individuals.