Dombrovska believes that Mayor «has left Mykolaiv in the dark», and that turning off street lights poses a threat, Sienkevych asks her to stop

Tetiana Dombrovska, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council, stated that completely turning off street lights, allegedly to save money, poses a real threat to the lives of people in the city. She also publicly addressed Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych, accusing the city authorities of non-transparent purchases of LED lamps and mentioning a case of corruption in the field of street lighting.

She wrote about this in her Facebook post, commenting on the death of a 25-year-old woman who was hit by a car on 10 January.

According to Dombrovska, although it is difficult to influence the actions of a specific driver and pedestrian, the city can and should be responsible for safety on the streets through high-quality infrastructure, in particular, adequate lighting.

«How many more tragedies are needed to understand that completely turning off street lighting in Mykolaiv under the pretext of saving money is a direct threat to people's lives? Oleksandr Sienkevych, are you so eager to save money on street lighting? Then why is the head of the municipal enterprise under investigation for purchasing LED street lamps? Aren't you saving money here?» Tetiana Dombrovska asked the mayor.

The mayor himself, Oleksandr Sienkevych, responded to her post in the comments. He emphasised that turning off street lighting is not a decision made by the city authorities for reasons of economy, but is dictated by the complex energy situation in the country.

«Turning off street lighting is not a «saving» measure, nor is it someone's decision to «leave the city in darkness». It is a necessary requirement dictated by the energy situation so that residents in general have electricity. You know very well that such decisions are not made for political reasons or on a whim,» Oleksandr Sienkevych replied to the post.

At the same time, the mayor accused the councillor of political manipulation and stated that using tragedy to criticise the authorities is unacceptable.

«But there is a line that cannot be crossed. Using a person's death for political manipulation is unacceptable. Stop. Because in the pursuit of loud criticism, it is very easy to lose your humanity,» the mayor said.

After that, Tetiana Dombrovska replied to the mayor again, emphasising that real savings could be achieved through transparent procurement of modern lighting. She also recalled that the contractor in the case of the purchase of LED lamps admitted guilt and compensated the community with 7.3 million hryvnias.

Earlier it was reported that during the period of hourly power cuts in Mykolaiv, street lighting is temporarily turned off in order to «reduce the load on the grid».

We will remind you that last week, the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office sent an indictment to the court against three directors of private companies who are suspected of participating in a corruption scheme during the purchase of LED lamps and materials for the repair of power grids in Mykolaiv. They have already compensated the city for all losses.

It was reported that the former director of the municipal enterprise «Self-Supporting Construction Mechanisation Division» Oleksandr Ursolov was responsible for procurement and compliance with the law at the enterprise. According to the investigation, due to improper performance of his duties, he failed to stop the illegal actions of GDMB officials, as a result of which the local budget of Mykolaiv suffered losses. In particular, this concerns two tenders worth 3.8 million and 2.47 million hryvnias, involving the companies Tornado-A LLC and BK Bazisbudresurs LLC.

As a result of these actions, the companies received illegal kickbacks from the overpaid amount, and, according to law enforcement estimates, caused losses of 7.3 million hryvnias to the Mykolaiv territorial community.

The prosecutor's office adds that during the pre-trial investigation, the defendants fully compensated for the damage caused.

In November 2025, Oleksandr Ursolov's charges were changed .

It is known that on 19 August, the official was notified of suspicion of committing a criminal offence under Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, "Official negligence." However, during the pre-trial investigation, the investigation concluded that the manager's actions were intentional rather than negligent.

Earlier, the Vitovskyi District Court of the Mykolaiv region refused the prosecutor's office to extend the suspension of Oleksandr Ursolov, director of the municipal enterprise «Self-supporting Construction Mechanisation Division».

Corruption in the procurement of street lighting for Mykolaiv

On 9 April, it became known that Serhii Bezdolnyi, who works for the municipal enterprise «Self-Supporting Construction Mechanisation Division» (hereinafter referred to as GDM), and businessman Vasyl Protsyshyn from Lviv region were notified of their suspicion of embezzlement of budget funds. He is charged with a violation under Part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He faces imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years. In addition to working for the municipal enterprise, Serhii Bezdolnyi is the brother of Dmytro Bezdolnyi, Director of the Department of Housing and Communal Services of the Mykolaiv City Council.

According to law enforcement officials, during the purchase of 65 street lighting control cabinets worth more than 5.3 million hryvnias, the Mykolaiv budget lost almost 600,000 hryvnias due to so-called «kickbacks» — 13% of the amount excluding VAT.

The director of the Mykolaiv Housing and Utilities Department, Dmytro Bezdolnyi, previously told NikVesti that he was considering stepping down from his position for the duration of the investigation due to the charges brought against his relative. It should be noted that the wife of the director of the Mykolaiv Housing and Utilities Department also works for the municipal enterprise where his brother is suspected of corruption.

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych promised to cooperate with the investigation into corruption in street lighting.

On 15 April, the Vitovskyi District Court of Mykolaiv chose a preventive measure for Sergey Bezdolny, a municipal worker suspected of corruption, in the form of arrest with the possibility of bail in the amount of more than 4.9 million hryvnias. As it turned out during the hearing, in September 2024, the Mykolaiv Department of Internal Financial Control, Supervision and Anti-Corruption approved a tender for the purchase of 65 street lighting cabinets at an inflated price.

The court also ruled to bring suspect Vasyl Protsyshyn to the court hearing by force. However, Protsyshyn did not appear at the hearing on 22 April. The court learned that his whereabouts are currently unknown, but he has not crossed the state border. As of the end of April, suspect businessman Vasyl Protsyshyn continued to hide from the investigation.

NikVesti previously reported on new evidence in the case — surveillance camera footage captured the moment when funds were transferred to an official of the state-owned enterprise GDMU (Gosrozrachunkova Dilnytsia Mekhanizatsii Budivnytstva, or State-Owned Construction Mechanisation Division).

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It should be noted that as part of this criminal proceeding, Mykolaiv law enforcement officers conducted a series of searches at firms and enterprises involved in the implementation of the municipal enterprise's tender schemes.

In particular, it became known that searches were conducted at Mykolaivoblenergo JSC as part of criminal proceedings regarding the possible embezzlement of budget funds allocated for the reconstruction of power grids. Searches were also conducted at the Mykolaivvodokanal municipal enterprise, where possible embezzlement is suspected in the conclusion of energy service contracts for the maintenance of water supply facilities.