Rebuilding Irpin, Bucha, and Hostomel: a Year since De-Occupation

A year ago, on March 28, the Armed Forces of Ukraine forced the russian retreat from Irpin. Within a few days, they also liberated Bucha and Hostomel. Footage from the de-occupied Kyiv region shook the world because it showed the inhuman behavior of the russian military in the territories that they had temporarily seized. Hundreds of bodies of those tortured and killed, houses burned and destroyed. The cities were desolate and lifeless.

A year later, since Bucha, Hostomel, and Irpin returned under the control of Ukraine, they have changed beyond recognition. New buildings are erected in place of the destroyed ones. Tulips bloom in place of fire sites. Life here is in full swing again.

Despite this, according to the Rebuildua project, the total losses from the russian occupation of these three settlements alone amount to tens of billions of hryvnias. Therefore, reconstruction requires insane resources and a lot of time.

Transparency International Ukraine studied how the first cities of Kyiv Oblast that were liberated from the russian occupation took the first steps on their way to reconstruction.

NGO “Irpіn Recovery Fund”

According to the Rebuildua project, the losses Irpin suffered from the russian occupation, which lasted a little more than a month, amount to UAH 25.3 bln. Nearly 10,600 buildings were damaged. 1 836 were destroyed. The largest share of losses — UAH 17.7 bln — falls on the housing stock. More than UAH 11.5 bln of it accounts for damaged apartment buildings. In total, due to the russian invasion, almost half of the city’s housing stock was affected.

The Mayor of Irpin, Oleksandr Markushyn, MP Serhii Taruta, and the former mayor of the city, Volodymyr Karpliuk, established the NGO “Irpin Recovery Fund.” The organization’s page features damaged objects of the city — both infrastructure and residential buildings — along with descriptions and sometimes estimates for reconstruction. You can also find financial reports on how much money the organization receives, from what sources, and what it is spent on.

Interested donors can choose a specific object for recovery. For example, the Italian Fund “Terre des Hommes,” in cooperation with the working group of the project “Irpin Reconstruction Summit” and with the support of the Ukrainian Humanitarian Fund, joined the reconstruction of the residential complex “Everest 10,” “Mineral,” and the housing cooperative “Zatyshok.” And the International Committee of the Red Cross will finance the repair of the roofs of four buildings and replace the windows in two more.

Funds are also raised on the UNITED24 platform to restore Irpin:

• Oleksandr Usyk raised USD 330,000 for the restoration of the first 18 apartment buildings in Kyiv Oblast under the program “Rebuild Ukraine.”
• Elina Svitolina raised EUR 127,000 for the restoration of a residential building on 53 Kyivska Street.
• Michel Hazanavicius raised EUR 150,500 for the reconstruction of a residential building on 42 Davydchuk Street.

Procurement for the reconstruction of Irpin at the expense of the budget was conducted by the city council and its subordinate procuring entities, as well as the Kyiv Regional State Administration. The city central hospital, the health resort, and the State Tax University also purchased services and works on the reconstruction. As of April 1, they conducted 214 tenders for more than UAH 405 mln, which were reported in Prozorro.

The most expensive contract was concluded for the repair of the training center of the State Tax University. The contract for more than UAH 20 mln was signed directly with Promin Bud Servis LLC. However, it was not paid in full — only UAH 3.4 mln — due to a decrease in the amount of actual financing of the procuring entity.

The next contract in terms of value was also concluded directly. The Irpin City Council ordered the current repair of an apartment building on the street 11 Line, 4, for UAH 17.7 mln from LLC “703 Metal Working Industry Plant of Boiler Equipment.”  The company was registered in 2009 in Kyiv, the owner is Mykola Vakhnin. The work should be completed by the end of 2023.

Most of the procurement for the reconstruction of Irpin was conducted directly. Some open bidding with features was announced for the construction of an extension to the polyclinic. Only one contractor participated in the auction and was awarded a contract for UAH 13 mln. For LLC “New Engineering,” this is the first such large order from the state. Previously, the most expensive contract of the company in Prozorro was worth UAH 1.7 mln.

Another four simplified tenders with a total expected cost of UAH 370,000 were conducted by the Irpin Central Hospital. All four contracts were awarded to one individual entrepreneur, Balaba Kostiantyn Leonidovych. One more participant took part in the first of these auctions — for the repair of a dormitory — but he was rejected, as he did not provide a warranty letter. IE Balaba used to work with state procuring entities only in Luhansk Oblast. This is his first experience of participating in public procurement in Kyiv Oblast.

Another simplified tender was conducted to repair the damaged children’s health resort “Lisnyi.” Only one participant took part in the tender, but he offered a price by UAH 12,500 lower than the expected cost — UAH 571,000.

LLC “I.B.K. Development” received the orders for the largest amount — 35 contracts for more than UAH 88 mln. The already familiar LLC “703 Metal Working Industry Plant of Boiler Equipment” comes second — 16 transactions for more than UAH 78 mln.

Bucha: partnership with an American non-profit organization

According to the Rebuildua project, as a result of the russian occupation, Bucha suffered infrastructure losses in the amount of UAH 5.2 bln. Housing stock suffered the most — UAH 2.4 bln. In total, russians damaged more than 2,500 buildings in Bucha, of which 185 were destroyed.

Since June 2022, the Bucha City Council has begun to conclude agreements on cooperation and assistance in the reconstruction of the city with various cities of the world. For example, Italian Bergamo pledged to help with the dismantling of destroyed buildings. Overall, sister cities supported us by providing humanitarian aid during and after the occupation, hosted displaced persons. They also help with planning the reconstruction.

In June, the first reconstruction projects in the communities of the district were launched. In particular, one of the first objects to be restored were schools and kindergartens, so that by September 1, they were ready to accept children again. In June, the reconstruction of school No.5 in Bucha and Buchanska School No.3 in the village of Horenka was launched. These projects are part of the rebuilding program of the Bucha community, “Hope for Bucha,” which the city council launched together with the American non-profit organization Global Empowerment Mission (GEM), specializing in emergency response, and the Quality of Life Foundation. The website of the program allows monitoring the implementation of projects.

One of them is the reconstruction of Vokzalna Street, one of the main streets in Bucha. It was photos of this street after the liberation of the city that shocked the world community because it was one of those places where the genocide in Bucha was documented. Work on the restoration began in October and included the repair of 10 damaged houses, the complete reconstruction of 11 houses, the repaving of the street, as well as other minor works. The project is still ongoing.

A part of the reconstruction projects financed by the budget can be tracked on Prozorro. As of April 1, the Bucha City Council, its subordinate procuring entities, and the Kyiv Regional State Administration conducted UAH 390 mln worth of such tenders for the city. Of the 79 tenders, 77 were held without auctions in Prozorro. One tender was announced for the repair of a school. According to its results, an agreement was concluded with LLC Maskira Bud for UAH 19.9 mln (the expected value was UAH 23.1 mln). The works are to be completed by the end of 2024. Only one participant came to open bidding with features — to repair the outpatient clinic, agreeing to perform works for UAH 651,000 instead of the planned UAH 697,000.

In total, at least 15 contractors received contracts for the reconstruction in Bucha. LLC “Nidkom” was awarded the largest amount of contracts for the reconstruction of the city — more than UAH 137 mln. The company received 36 contracts. According to the KyivVlada portal, one of its founders is connected, through his other company, to a person who has an identical full name to the assistant of the MP Oleh Seminskyi — Oleksandr Chuniak. LLC “Nidkom” has been participating in procurement in Prozorro since 2020.

The Bucha City Council concluded contracts for another almost UAH 108 mln with individual entrepreneur Tsybulskiy Serhii Hryhorovych. All 12 contracts are concluded directly. This individual entrepreneur was registered in 1996 in the city of Dubrovytsia, Rivne Oblast. Since 2019, he began to participate in procurement. All procuring entities used to be from Rivne Oblast, and contracts did not exceed UAH 10 mln.

In addition, Bucha offers a “Restore Homes” program from the Energy Efficiency Fund; within its framework, locals can receive funds to rebuild their homes. Participants can be associations of co-owners of apartment buildings (condominiums), established and operating in accordance with the Law “On Associations of Co-Owners of Multi-Apartment Houses.” To do this, you need to appeal with a corresponding appeal to the Bucha City Council. The received funds can be spent on the repair of public spaces:

• roofs,
• facades,
• window and balcony structures,
• intra-household networks.

Hostomel: an ecological approach to reconstruction in partnership with a French company

According to the Rebuildua project, the damage caused to this urban-type settlement by russians amounts to approximately UAH 9.5 bln. More than 4,500 buildings were damaged. 546 were destroyed. Some streets were destroyed by more than half, including Luhova (95%), Chumatskyi Shliakh (68%) and Sviato-Pokrovska (51%).

The French company Neo Eco, specializing in the recycling of resources, undertook to rebuild the military town located near the Antonov plant in Hostomel. The corresponding memorandum was signed by the company, the administration of Kyiv Oblast, and the French MFA in September 2022. As part of this project, the remains of the buildings destroyed by russians will be used to create materials for new buildings. In total, 450 apartments, a school, and a kindergarten are planned to be created by the middle of 2024.

As of April 1, Prozorro contains information on procurement for the reconstruction of Hostomel at the expense of the budget, conducted by the local military administration, the village council, and the Kyiv Regional State Administration for UAH 84 mln. All tenders were held directly, without auctions.

The Department of Regional Development of the Kyiv Regional State Administration concluded 35 agreements with LLC “IBK Enerhotekhnobud” for more than UAH 30 mln. All of them were related to the repair of residential buildings.

30 contracts for more than UAH 11.5 mln were concluded with LLC “Novi Teplotekhnolohii.” One of them is from the Department of Regional Development of the Kyiv Regional State Administration. The rest are from the Hostomel village military administration. LLC “Novi Teplotekhnolohii” was registered in 2006 in Zaporizhzhia, its owners are Viktor and Maksym Lobyntsev. It used to work with procuring entities from Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Each of the first communities that the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated from the russian occupation is trying to return to normal life and rebuild what was destroyed. However, these examples, unfortunately, demonstrate how much the reconstruction process of the country lacks in transparency.

The Prozorro system contains only a small part of the information on reconstruction contracts, 98% of which were concluded under direct procedures without competitive selection of the best bid. Often, there is no information on the contractors of the works or the cost of these works under most expenditures and projects (including for donor funds and donations). This undoubtedly creates high risks of possible abuse. 

For the reconstruction process to be credible, it is necessary to ensure the most open and transparent procedures for identifying needs, prioritizing them, selecting work contractors, and reporting. The Electronic Reconstruction Management System, which is currently being developed by the Government with the active support of the RISE Ukraine coalition of CSOs, will help with this.

So far, Ukraine is taking only the first steps in reconstruction, but it is important that these steps be in the right direction.

On the one hand, it is great that communities take the matters of their well-being into their own hands and do not wait for the state to launch some global reconstruction programs. This only confirms that decentralization in Ukraine has made cities more self-sufficient and capable even in such critical conditions as war. But Transparency International Ukraine has repeatedly stressed that reconstruction should be comprehensive and requires a single strategy and approaches to develop different communities uniformly, apply modern urban planning practices, and rebuild the country transparently and efficiently.

The material was prepared within the framework of the USAID/UK aid TAPAS Project/Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services.