Law enforcement officers in Ukraine's Kyiv region say they have uncovered a scheme to misappropriate local budget funds through the rental of a cogeneration unit for the Vyshneve territorial community, the regional prosecutor's office press service reported.
Investigators say a municipal enterprise procured the rental of a gas-piston cogeneration unit to provide heating through the 2024/2025 season. The tender required equipment manufactured no earlier than 2020, but the enterprise was handed a unit produced in 2008 that had already been in long-term use.
Because of technical wear, the equipment needed repairs and was not put into operation at the start of the 2024 heating season, precisely when the region was experiencing blackouts, according to the prosecutor's office statement.
Contract worth 315 million hryvnias
According to investigators, the municipal enterprise signed a contract with a private company worth 315 million hryvnias. Of that sum, 28 million hryvnias has already been transferred from the local budget.
Prosecutors have notified four people that they are suspected under Ukraine's Criminal Code, citing provisions on attempted fraud committed by prior conspiracy on an especially large scale, as well as embezzlement or misappropriation of property through abuse of official position.
Earlier reporting flagged inflated price
The case echoes reporting in 2024 by the investigative outlet Nashi Groshi, which said the municipal enterprise KP Vyshnivskteploenergo, based in Vyshneve, had rented a cogeneration unit without a competitive tender. The outlet reported the enterprise leased an MTU GS 16V4000 L62 gas-piston unit, made by the British group Rolls-Royce, from the company TOV Ekoresurs-T at a price six times higher than the market value of buying a similar unit outright.
Under that arrangement, the company was expected to receive 3.50 million hryvnias a month in rental payments over 15 years.
Background: a wartime energy crisis
Russia has targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure with large-scale strikes since the autumn of 2022, repeatedly knocking out power generation and heating capacity across the country. Communities such as Vyshneve, near Kyiv, turned to cogeneration units and other backup generation to keep heat and electricity running during the resulting blackouts.
The winter of 2025-2026 was one of the most difficult for Ukraine's energy system, the result of both intensified Russian attacks and severe weather that brought frosts as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius. In the autumn of 2025, scheduled power cuts returned to Ukraine after a lengthy pause, as Russia resumed large-scale strikes on energy facilities.
Preparations for the next heating season
Ukraine has been preparing for its next heating season since the spring. On March 3, the National Security and Defense Council approved resilience plans for all regions except Kyiv, though the capital was later brought into the program following a vote in the Kyiv City Council.
Yuliia Svyrydenko, who was prime minister at the time, said the resilience plans for all regions of Ukraine were valued at approximately 278 billion hryvnias.
The investigation into the Vyshneve cogeneration lease is ongoing, and no further details on the suspects or next legal steps were disclosed in the prosecutor's statement.
