More than 55 million hryvnias were spent on the restoration of the White Elephant, but the work was not completed
Police are investigating possible official misconduct during the restoration of the “White Elephant” high-altitude observatory on Mount Pip Ivan.
The Carpathian National University commissioned the work, and the facility is owned by the Ministry of Education and Science.
According to the investigation, in 2019 the university signed a contract with the Lviv-based company “Transbud” for 21.9 million hryvnias, and in 2025, without a competitive bidding process, the contractor received nearly 42 million hryvnias more. In total, over 55 million hryvnias have already been allocated for the work.
Despite the contractor’s statements as early as 2021 that the restoration was in its final stage, the observatory has still not been completed. The court authorized the seizure of contracts, certificates of completion, and the university’s banking documents. No charges have been filed against anyone in the case at this time.
Source: court documents.
As a reminder, law enforcement officials in the Odesa region uncovered the organizer of an illegal scheme to smuggle conscripts abroad. According to police, 147 men were attempted to be smuggled out of the country under the guise of sailors.
The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police have uncovered nine new schemes to evade mobilization in various regions of the country. As part of special operations, 23 organizers of these schemes were detained; for a fee, they helped men subject to military service avoid conscription or illegally leave the country.
