An investigation is underway in Kharkiv into the purchase of Italian pine trees costing nearly one million hryvnias each
In Kharkiv, journalists reported on a possible overpricing of decorative trees purchased by the city council in 2025.
The purchase involved four Italian “pinia” pines, each costing between 876,000 and 973,000 UAH, including VAT.
The tender was won by Kuznetsov Landscape Studio LLC, despite a cheaper bid from another participant.
Journalists claim that the market value of such trees in Europe is about 3,000 euros each, and taking logistics and planting into account, the total purchase price could have been significantly lower—approximately 300,000 UAH per tree.
The supplier explained the high price by noting that the trees were specially grown in a German nursery, have a complex root system, and require special transportation and planting, particularly due to the site’s location above the metro.
It is also noted that the company has been collaborating with the Kharkiv City Council for a long time, and the city’s total spending on landscaping since the start of the full-scale war has amounted to at least 18 million UAH, a significant portion of which went to this contractor.
This is detailed in an investigation by the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center (KAC) and Gvara.
Earlier, the former director of the state-owned enterprise “Local Road Service in Volyn Oblast” was notified of suspicion of embezzlement of budget funds on an especially large scale.
In addition, the head of one of the departments of the Lutsk City Council was notified of suspicion of embezzling budget funds on an exceptionally large scale.
Previously, the Supreme Court upheld the position of prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General and upheld the sentence against the former director of a vocational high school in the Khmelnytskyi region. She was convicted of embezzling nearly 1 million hryvnias in public funds.
The former head of the Rivne Regional Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support will stand trial for negligence that caused the state losses totaling more than 830 thousand hryvnias during the procurement of vehicles for the army.
