“Children of the Dungeon” in Netishinsky: in the satellite town of the nuclear power plant in the Khmelnytsky region, schoolchildren are forced to hide under airstrikes in shelters, the condition of which threatens their health.
We are talking about dirt, dust and even dead rats. The regional State Food and Consumer Service inspected schools and kindergartens and found that the storage facilities were not in proper condition. Law enforcement officers began criminal proceedings into the probable misappropriation of millions of budget funds intended for the construction of protective structures.
Who exactly is profiting from the construction of shelters and putting children from Neteshin in danger? But how does the mayor, Alexander Suprunyuk, explain all this?
In Netishyn, parents of schoolchildren are sounding the alarm: on social networks they have repeatedly reported dirt, dust and even dead rats in the storage facilities where children are kept during air raids. As a result, children not only have psychological trauma from this dungeon. Local doctors record frequent complaints of headaches and severe allergic cough.
“The child constantly came in dirty, allergies started, and they took him to the doctor. I found out that 5 million from the local budget was allocated for the shelter - to be honest, this greatly outraged me. These millions are not visible here in terms of the conditions in which children find themselves. “Therefore, I think the issue needs to be raised urgently for the authorities, so that they bear responsibility and bring the shelter into proper condition,” notes local activist Stepan Volenko.
What's wrong with shelters?
Recently, the State Food and Consumer Service of the Khmelnytsky region conducted an inspection of several educational and preschool institutions. The results surprised even the inspectors, because the shelters examined turned out to be unsuitable for the stay of representatives of such a vulnerable segment of the population as children. Here are some expert conclusions:
The sewer pipes are worn out and not sealed.
- The ceiling and walls in the shelter were not repaired using disinfectants to destroy mold and mildew.
- Beds were not purchased according to the number of children.
- Repair work on the shelter premises has not been completed, and the causes of flooding have not been identified and eliminated.
“The presence of children in these conditions can become a direct cause or an auxiliary factor of diseases among children, and is extremely dangerous,” the document says.
How do the local military administration comment on this?
After all, it is these shelters that should provide citizens with safety in the event of a threat, including radiation. The importance of this issue is also noted by the head of the Netishinsky city military administration, Grigory Olendra.
“We have a strategic facility on our territory. There is a need to further organize measures of the legal regime, the protection of the civilian population and, first of all, to prepare the city for defense. Anti-radiation shelters must be in proper form. Since the city has a nuclear power plant, this is a top priority,” he says.
And what did the team see with their own eyes in the anti-radiation shelter of one of the Neteshin schools?
There is fungus and mold on the walls and ceilings, and on the surfaces there is dust that children breathe. The toilets have no door. Instead of beds there are old, unpainted bunks. Here and there there are dismantled metal beds and some rubbish lying around. And all this is supposedly the result of a major overhaul. Although even purely visually, there is still plenty of work to be done here.
“It’s 100% complete to finish the floor, because part of the storage facility, which is 1,150 square meters, has not been partially repaired. Next are the walls. It is necessary to eliminate mold, mildew and peeling of the plaster itself. But this is not just cosmetic repairs. replacement of waterproofing, drainage and drainage systems. It all needs to be processed there. The walls need to be painted in such a way that they can be washed,” comments school director Nadezhda Kononchuk.
In addition, separate toilets should be arranged for girls and boys, sleeping places should be put in order, etc.
And the capital construction department (UCD) of the city council is responsible for this.
“In order not to be unfounded, we inspected several more school shelters. What he saw was no less shocking. One of them, seemingly brand new, was renovated last year. But pay attention to the quality... The ceiling began to leak almost immediately after the work was completed, which was supervised by the same UKS,” notes Olga Levitskaya.
According to the head of the establishment, Elena Grusha, the leak began in December, and then there was constant dampness in the room.
By the way, according to her, some of the work fell on the shoulders of the school staff themselves. In particular, the director bought paint at her own expense, and the technicians painted the floor. After all, for some reason the project from the capital construction department did not provide for this, and the school does not have the right to submit a repair estimate, so they then completed it in accordance with the UKS themselves.
“That is, what is included there is not included. Designers see why this is so. Perhaps the main thing for me was that it was built. Perhaps there was a lack of funds. I don't know how it happened. That is, it’s paint, it’s not as much money as for me,” says Elena.
So is it a shortage of funds or a thirst for profit among officials?
As our editors learned, law enforcement officers have already opened criminal proceedings regarding the misappropriation of budget funds during the construction of this shelter.
At the same time, renovations in preschool institutions are very different for the better. Is it because they were repairing it even before the establishment of the Capital Construction Administration or with funds from foundations? Garden managers explain that they can negotiate directly with builders, but legal support is required.
“I don’t mind if we work directly with the organization that will carry out these works. On the other hand, we will need some kind of legal assistance, because we are not specialists in the field of construction work, we are teachers, we carry out the educational process, provide the educational process. But we can directly carry out such work,” says kindergarten director Oksana Grigoruk.
Since teachers know more about their buildings, it is easier for them to shape and control the process of repairing the shelter. That is why UKS cannot act as the sole customer of the work, local deputies insist.
“The UKS should be an institution that provides support for regulatory and technical documentation for any repairs or reconstructions,” comments Alexander Stepanyuk, deputy of the Netishinsky City Council.
So, the deputies personally undertook to check the shelters that the UKS was in charge of.
And during the inspection it turned out that the repair of some objects was significantly delayed, and the state of execution was considered unsatisfactory.
“In the deputy’s request, I outlined the facts that we saw with our own eyes, that in the Staronetishinsky gymnasium “Patriot” the walls are leaking, blocking the electricity there, that there is humidity, mold, that is, the work was done poorly,” emphasizes deputy Ekaterina Yanovich.
How does the city mayor react?
Since 2014, Neteshin has been headed by Alexander Suprunyuk. When he worked as an ordinary teacher, and then founded his own company and paved the way to politics. Despite the small number of city residents, Mr. Suprunyuk’s salary is considerable: more than a million hryvnia per year. And in addition to this - various bonuses and allowances. It was with his support, and then with his signature, that the above-mentioned UKS was formed.
True, during a full-scale war and in conditions of enormous danger to society, almost no funds were allocated for shelter.
To find out at what prices materials were purchased and how effectively budget funds were used, the editors sent a request. However, UKS did not provide a copy of the project documentation, as if it did not have one.
“Before asking the mayor personally questions that were of interest to us and the city residents, we decided to inspect the last and, probably, decisive shelter. City council shelter. And this is what it looks like. You can feel at home in this basement. There are sealed anti-radiation doors, a modern ventilation system, and comfortable sleeping places. And it’s sterile – like in an operating room. Welcome to another reality,” says the reporter.
Why are shelters for ordinary citizens so different in condition, conditions and level of comfort from those for city hall officials?
With these questions, journalists went to the mayors on the day of Mr. Suprunyuk’s reception of citizens. However, media workers were not immediately allowed to go to the mayor. And while they were waiting patiently, Alexander Alekseevich called the police on the Stopkorovites for disrupting an important meeting.
In the end, the reporters were not detained because there was no disruption or obstruction. Instead, the policemen even wanted to help them get to the mayor, but in vain. Suprunyuk referred to being busy.
Later, visiting the city council again, the journalists met the mayor. But when he saw the video camera, he hurried to the back exit. We finally managed to communicate with Mr. Suprunyuk at his car. But he refused to provide any meaningful comments on the shelters, citing “a lot of work.”
More specific information about the poor condition of the shelters was obtained from the secretary of the Netishinsky City Council.
Ivan Romanyuk noted that the anti-radiation shelters, as planned, were not intended for daily use.
“It turns out that when we built the PRU, the war begins. And the state says: dear ones, now we must use this as a bomb shelter. Some of the elements that were made were not intended for either a bomb shelter or for regular use,” he explained.
Romanyuk also added that it is necessary to decide where it would be more appropriate to allocate funds.
“Perhaps we want to create better conditions for children. Nobody excludes that it can always be done much better. But is there any practicality in this? I am a supporter of the idea of giving 30 million to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and for them to make sure that we don’t have air raid warnings,” the official said.
For now, we can only hope that after the publicity, Suprunyuk and his team will finally pay attention to the conditions in which the children of the community find themselves. And StopKor is already preparing the next series of investigations about the “double life” of the mayor.
Let us remind you that Netishin is a satellite town of the Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant - an object of critical infrastructure in Ukraine. Therefore, in the context of enemy attacks on the Ukrainian energy system, the problem of providing residents with shelters and bomb shelters is especially pressing. However, as the StopCor team previously found out, the city authorities seem to have approached this important issue in a rather specific way: if the shelter for Netishinsky officials was equipped in a luxury class, the condition of the storage facilities for ordinary citizens and their children leaves much to be desired.
