Education Department is looking for a contractor to organise meals in Mykolaiv schools and kindergartens for ₴187.6 million for the first six months

In the first half of 2026, the city plans to spend 186.6 million hryvnias on catering in schools and kindergartens in Mykolaiv.

The relevant tenders have been published in the ProZorro public procurement system, according to NikVesti.

The education department is currently looking for contractors to provide the following services.

The city plans to spend 76 million hryvnias on catering in kindergartens. The contractor will have until 30 June 2026 to organise the meals:

Three meals a day in 44 kindergartens:

• children under 4 years of age (early childhood groups) — 149,649 (child-days);
• children aged 4 to 6 (7) years (preschool age groups) — 308,676 (child-days).

Three meals a day for pupils of the Mykolaiv special school for visually impaired children:

• children under 4 years of age (early childhood groups) — 1,961 (child-days);
• children from 4 to 6 (7) years old (preschool age groups) — 4,584 (child-days).

It is planned to spend 111.6 million hryvnias on catering in the city's schools. The contractor will have to organise catering in 56 lyceums, gymnasiums and schools in Mykolaiv by 31 May 2026. One full meal per pupil will be provided: breakfast or lunch, depending on the shift of classes. At the same time, students at the Mykolaiv Special School for Children with Visual Impairments will receive three meals a day.

Both tenders state that the four-week seasonal menu provided must meet the dietary requirements and comply with the standards set by the Cabinet of Ministers. The bidder must ensure that all products meet sanitary requirements, and food must be transported in sealed containers in compliance with the temperature regime.

The tender process is currently underway, and contractors will be selected after 9 January.

Catering for schoolchildren in Mykolaiv

On 9 December, NikVesti showed the process of providing some of the city's schools with food prepared by a private company «Prosecco 8», which received a catering contract from the municipal enterprise. Parents of the children said that they did not receive breakfast on Monday, and the food was delivered only in the afternoon.

The footage showed the company's employees cooking porridge outside under a tent in the rain.

Vitalii Kim, a deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council and head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, responded to the scandal. After that, the Main Department of the National Police of Mykolaiv Oblast opened a criminal investigation into violations of the rules for preparing food for city schoolchildren.

Only in the evening did the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, respond to the video. The mayor called the situation unacceptable and initiated an inspection.

In her turn, Tetiana Dombrovska, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council, called the scandal with the new catering for schoolchildren a failure of the authorities. She demanded the dismissal of Vice Mayor Anatolii Petrov and Director of the KOP Petro Vasheniak.

The State Audit Service has launched an audit of the procurement of catering services for Mykolaiv's educational institutions due to signs of violations of public procurement laws.

It should be noted that the Mykolaiv City Hall decided to engage a private contractor after a public outcry over the quality of school meals. At the end of November, the municipal enterprise KOP chose the company «Prossecco 8», which will deliver food to some of the city's schools in December. During the open tender «PROSSECCO 8» became the only participant and winner of the tender for catering services. The price of the services was 14 million 279 thousand 658 hryvnias.

Since the morning of 12 December, employees of the Strategic Investigations Department of Mykolaiv Region, together with the police, have been conducting searches at «Prossecco 8», the Department of Education and the catering company.

The searches were conducted as part of criminal proceedings under Part 4 of Article 191 — misappropriation or embezzlement of property on a particularly large scale or committed by an organised group.

In the seized samples of food, which the company «Prossecco 8» planned to feed schoolchildren in Mykolaiv, bacteria of the E. coli group were found.

As it became known, on Tuesday, 23 December, the persons involved in the scandal over the organisation of catering for schoolchildren in Mykolaiv were served with suspicions.

The head of the company, Iryna Stoieva, was served with a notice of suspicion of violating the rules and regulations established to prevent infectious diseases, which could have led to their spread, as well as of an unfinished attempt to seize another's property by abuse of office under martial law on a particularly large scale (Part 1 of Article 325, Part 3 of Article 15, Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Petro Vasheniak was served a notice of suspicion of completed attempted embezzlement of property by abuse of office under martial law (Article 15, part 2, part 4, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Who is the company that received ₴14 million for school meals connected to?

According to the YouControl system, the company «Prossecco 8», which was selected as a subcontractor, was registered in Mykolaiv in 2023 and has a registered capital of one thousand hryvnias. The company's activities are multifaceted: it provides mobile catering services, rents goods for sports and recreation, operates sports facilities, provides services to hairdressers and beauty salons, and more. The company is owned by Irina Stoieva.

NikVesti found out that Iryna Stoieva is also associated with another organisation — LLC «BBV 2021». The Register of Court Decisions contains a court ruling of 2023 on bringing her to administrative responsibility for violating the statutory procedure for making payments in the field of trade, catering and services. Iryna Stoieva is listed in the document as the manager of LLC «BBV 2021». The case concerned an unaccounted-for excess of alcohol and cigarettes in a cafe in the Zavodskyi district of Mykolaiv.

The YouControl system indicates that the head of this Mykolaiv-based limited liability company «BBV 2021» is Borys Berestnev, who is the son of the head of the «Proposal» faction in the Mykolaiv City Council and the head of the Inhulskyi District Administration, Hanna Remennikova.

It should be noted that Hanna Remennikova's family owns two popular restaurants in Mykolaiv: «Daily» and «Daily Sport». One of them, as the editorial board of NikVesti found out, employs Iryna Stoieva.

The decision to involve a private company in the organisation of meals for children in schools was previously commented on by the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych. In his telegram channel, the mayor said that within a month, the city authorities would check the effectiveness of catering.

Press conference on the incident with school meals: key statements

The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, stated that they knew about the contractor's violations in the preparation and delivery of school meals as early as Monday, 8 December, but did not publicly respond to this because he was attending a municipal forum that day.

According to the mayor, some schools refused to accept the food, and some of the prepared meals were not sent from the company at all «Prossecco 8».

When asked by journalists why Oleksandr Sienkevych reacted to the incident only after the video was published NikVesti, the mayor explained that «he was physically unable to do so».

In turn, Iryna Stoieva, director of «Prossecco 8», whose company was supposed to provide catering for children in Mykolaiv schools, explained that on the first day, due to problems with the power outage, there was a production failure.

According to Stoieva, the company experienced force majeure. Due to the lack of electricity, the generator failed to work and the equipment was out of order.

In addition, she said that sanitary standards were violated by the cook himself, who decided to open the thermobox in the open air and mix the couscous. He has already been punished for this.