Dnipro-based foundation, not the state, ordered billion-hryvnia contracts for veteran centres

The government programme for building infrastructure for the country's defenders was effectively ordered not by a state structure, but by a private organisation. This is evidenced by data from the state procurement register, which lists the Dnipro-based charitable foundation "Pisni, narodzheni v ATO" (Songs Born in ATO). This structure, previously known primarily as an organiser of musical events, became the author of the standard project under which 161 veteran spaces are planned to be built.

Timeline of the project's emergence and financing

The financial scale of the programme has grown significantly over the past year. In the summer of 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers allocated 446 million hryvnia to start construction on the first seven facilities. Currently, in February 2026, a further 1.1 billion hryvnia is allocated for expanding the network to 15 communities. Meanwhile, an analysis of the documents revealed a chronological anomaly: the technical documentation appeared in the register on 24 April 2025, i.e. 55 days before the adoption of the relevant government resolution. The foundation acted as the client for the project development, ordering services from a sole proprietor from Zakarpattia, after which it transferred the materials to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. No alternative projects for communities exist within the framework of this programme.

Links between the foundation's leadership and the authorities

The leadership of the charitable organisation has close ties with the administration of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The foundation's founder, Volodymyr Yurchenko, previously held the position of Deputy Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration during the tenure of Valentin Reznichenko. Yuriy Shulyka holds the position of the foundation's director. His wife, Nataliya Shulyka, previously headed the department for ATO participants in the same regional state administration. According to NGL, the coordination of the programme within the ministry was handled by First Deputy Minister Viktor Baidachny, who also previously worked in the veterans' department of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration.

Yuriy Shulyka, responding to questions about the source of the initiative, stated: «Подзвонили якісь люди з міністерства і запропонували» (Some people from the ministry called and offered). However, he did not specify who exactly made these calls.

Allegations of overpayments and deadline violations

An analysis of seven tenders conducted within the programme revealed that only one participant took part in each of them. The DOZORRO service estimates the probable overpayment for building materials at 37.3 million hryvnia. The largest deviations were recorded in Uzhhorod (11.5 million hryvnia), Lutsk (7.3 million hryvnia) and Zhytomyr (6.4 million hryvnia). Particular attention is drawn to the contract in Kremenchuk for the amount of 132.9 million hryvnia, which was signed on 10 November 2025 with a performance deadline of 20 November of the same year. The State Audit Service is demanding the termination of contracts in Kremenchuk and Uzhhorod, but the clients are challenging this decision in court. Regarding the situation in Uzhhorod, DOZORRO has already appealed to the prosecutor's office. As of 1 December 2025, none of the facilities had been handed over for operation on time.

Context of the "Big Construction" case

The "Pisni, narodzheni v ATO" (Songs Born in ATO) Foundation also features in the context of the NABU criminal proceedings regarding the "Big Construction" programme. The organisation submitted at least one defendant in this case to the "Shliakh" system. In June 2024, one of them left the country with a permit issued by the Military Administration based on the foundation's submission. At that time, Volodymyr Yurchenko publicly stated that the decision to issue permits is made by the military administration, not the charitable foundation. The exact number of persons the foundation submitted to the "Shliakh" system remains unknown to the public.

Currently, there is no public information about NABU or SBI criminal proceedings that directly concern the construction of veteran spaces. Questions remain for the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and law enforcement agencies: why a project worth billions of hryvnia appeared before the adoption of the programme, and why its author was an organisation linked to a team that is already under judicial scrutiny.