40 Billion on Fortifications: where the money from defense projects went and what “Kvartal 95” has to do with It. Materials were purchased through shell companies with huge markups.

In 2024, the Ukrainian government allocated over 40 billion UAH (about $1 million) for the construction of fortifications. However, part of this funding never reached actual defense strengthening efforts and was instead siphoned off through schemes involving contractors connected to officials.

This is according to an investigation by BIHUS Info. Journalists uncovered which companies ultimately received the allocated funds, Telegraf informs.

In the Kherson region, one of the largest recipients of state funding was Global Build Engineering, a company journalists link to Anton Samoylenko, Deputy Head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration.

The company received about 280 million UAH to construct defense lines. It purchased concrete blocks via the supplier Dnipro Promsnab Torg, overpaying by up to 25 million UAH.

A similar story applies to the so-called “dragon’s teeth” — where overpayments amounted to about 10 million UAH. The owner of the intermediary company received payments from Global itself, indicating the transactions were likely fictitious.

In the Zhytomyr region, the situation was similar. The company Navitekhsservis, previously involved in reconstruction work in the Kyiv region, became a contractor for fortification projects.

However, it passed the actual work down the line to a shell company called Reiskvik. The latter had neither the experience nor the infrastructure to carry out the project but funneled part of the funds through a chain of other companies. A portion of the money simply “disappeared” — it cannot be traced through any official documentation.

Both firms – Global and Navitekhsservis – have indirect links to a business group close to the Kvartal 95 Studio and its co-owner Tymur Mindich.

In the first case, the link is through a business partner of Samoylenko, who shares an office with a company formerly headed by Mindich.

In the second, the connection is via a co-owner of Navitekhsservis, whose sister runs Eventus Management – a company that was also previously associated with Mindich.

Timur Mindich, Zelenskyy’s friend and co-owner of Kvartal-95, has decided not to return to Ukraine for now.

It is known that Timyr Mindich is currently stay in Austia. According to cenzor.net source, Mindich has been spotted in Vienna several times.

As of now, NABU has not officially served Timur Mindich with a notice of suspicion, but according to sources in anti-corruption agencies and media reports, NABU was preparing a notice of suspicion against Mindich even before he left Ukraine.

There is a strong suspicion that Mindich left the country (initially to Moldova, later he was spotted in Vienna) to avoid being served the suspicion.

In recent months, Mindich’s name has frequently appeared in connection with drone production – a nearly unlimited market, as funding now comes not only from Ukrainian sources but also from international partners.

EMPR