Kyiv residents are creating petitions, seeking justice for the tragedy on June 1st.

In its traditional manner, the Kyiv authorities are trying to avoid the consequences of the tragedy on June 1st when three people, including a child, were killed by a rocket strike near a closed ammunition depot. No political conclusions have been drawn. No one voluntarily resigned or was suspended, even temporarily during the investigation, at the level of the heads of the Desnianska RDA, the Departments of the Kyiv City State Administration, and the Kyiv City Military Administration. Instead, on Khreshchatyk 32, they have started allocating new millions at a frantic pace for the alleged arrangement of bomb shelters, for which funds have already been allocated multiple times, and dozens of criminal investigations have been opened into the misappropriation of these funds from the city budget.

Understanding that as of June 1, 2023, the Kyiv authorities have not drawn the appropriate conclusions, Kyiv residents have registered two petitions related to the unsatisfactory work of the head of the Kyiv City State Administration Vitaliy Klitschko in terms of arranging shelters in the capital and ensuring their uninterrupted operation, which resulted in the loss of lives on June 1.

• The first petition calls for Klitschko’s suspension from the position of Head of the Kyiv City State Administration during the pre-trial investigation period.
• The second petition is for the dismissal of Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Klitschko from the position of the Head of the Kyiv City State Administration.

Is Klitschko innocent?

The information about how Klitschko reported a wonderful situation regarding shelters and bomb shelters in Kyiv even before the full-scale invasion by Russian invaders was gathered from open sources by Yuriy Levchenko, the leader of the «Narodovladdya» party.

On December 15, 2021, Vitali Klitschko, in his report on the results of the city government’s work in 2021, mentioned that since 2014, Kyiv has been consistently restoring civil defense structures. «Today, nearly 5,000 shelters from the Shelter Fund are under constant control. And representatives of the media could see a week ago how shelters are being prepared, what they look like. The Municipal Security Department is working on this», – said Vitali Klitschko.

On February 3, 2022, three weeks before the full-scale invasion, Vitali Klitschko’s deputy in charge of relevant matters, Petro Panteleiev, reported at a Kyiv City Council meeting. Over the last seven years, municipal rescue services have inspected over 11,000 premises, primarily basements that could potentially serve as shelters.

If just a few years ago we had about 1,500 suitable shelters, then during this time, their number has increased to approximately 4,500. In total, as of today, the Fund for Civil Defense Protective Structures includes over 500 shelters located at critical infrastructure sites and designed to protect the working shifts, as well as nearly 4,500 dual-use structures,” reassured Pantelеev 1.5 years ago.

But now, after the tragedy on June 1, 2023, the Kyiv authorities are already mentioning different numbers.

According to Roman Tkachuk, the Director of the Department of Municipal Security of Kyiv City State Administration, as of January 1, 2023, there are 4,141 protective structures registered: 1,028 are dual-purpose structures, and 3,113 are the simplest shelters.

In reality, it turned out that most of these shelters do not fully perform their protective functions or are unsuitable for people to stay in. Recent checks of 3,800 structures have revealed that 30% of the “prepared” shelters under Klichko’s leadership prior to the full-scale invasion are unsuitable for use, even as the simplest shelters. These data were provided by the Minister for Strategic Industries, Oleksandr Kamishin, on Telegram.

According to the results of the inspection by the relevant commission, as of June 10, 2023, 35% were found to be closed, 44% open, and another 21% accessible within 5 minutes. In normal condition, 15% of shelters are available, and 50% are technically usable but require renovation.

Around 20% are still unsuitable for use because they require repairs and improvements.

Millions in vain

The situation with the repair of such structures turned out to be no less interesting. In the first days of June, law enforcement authorities in the capital uncovered two schemes for misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds allocated for the repair of shelters in Kyiv. This was reported by the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office on their Facebook page and by the city police. Reported is the exposure and announcement of suspicion to the head of the Department of Construction, Architecture, and Land Use of the Sviatoshyn Raion State Administration and the contractor for embezzlement and misappropriation of budget funds on an especially large scale during the major overhaul of shelters on the territory of the city of Kyiv.

The investigation revealed that officials embezzled budget funds in the amount of over 800,000 hryvnias, which were allocated for the capital repair of the simplest civilian shelter on the territory of the Sviatoshyn Raion in the city of Kyiv.

In July 2022, officials from the Holosiivskyi District State Administration in Kyiv arranged for a controlled entity to win a tender for the capital repair of the simplest civilian shelters and protective structures in a school in the Holosiivskyi District. This was done with the aim of embezzling budget funds.

Overall, the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office has filed 28 lawsuits due to the unsatisfactory condition of shelters in the capital.

But now the Kyiv authorities continue to allocate millions for the arrangement of shelters, which raises significant doubts within the community in light of what happened in this regard before the tragedy on June 1 in the Desnianskyi district of the capital. For example, on June 9, it was announced that 750 million UAH would be allocated from the Kyiv budget for equipping around 3,000 shelters and hideaways with an automated opening system. This was announced by the same Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Petro Panteleiev.

An additional half a billion hryvnias are also planned to be allocated for the repair of shelters in the capital. The relevant decision was adopted by the Kyiv City Council on June 8, 2023.

Understanding that all this renovation will end without holding top officials accountable for their previous criminal negligence and theft, Kyiv residents are creating and signing relevant petitions.

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