The goal of investigative journalism is not only to uncover the truth but also to drive action and foster positive change within communities. That is the driving idea behind the work of 18 media teams participating in the project Stronger Together: Transparency and Anti-Corruption.
With the support of experienced mentors, these journalists are already exposing abuses of power, investigating corrupt schemes, and restoring transparency where it has been lost. According to the project’s guidelines, each team is expected to publish at least three investigative reports by the end of the year.
The participants have already begun sharing their initial findings as part of the program. This article presents brief summaries of the investigations that have been published so far, along with links to read the full reports. The list is organized by the publication date.
Lokator Media
Don’t Push the Horses: What the Declarations of Mykhailo Sych, Director of the Zaporizhzhia State Stud Farm, Are Hiding
Team mentor: Oleksandra Gubytska, NGL.media
Publication date: August 25, 2025
Summary: Journalists examined the asset declarations of Mykhailo Sych, head of the «Zaporizhzhia Stud Farm No. 86». In recent years, his family acquired real estate and several expensive cars, whose value far exceeds the amounts declared. The investigation uncovers numerous discrepancies.
In a phone conversation with a journalist, Mykhailo Sych claimed that the vehicles were allegedly purchased in damaged condition and that he possesses the necessary documentation. However, the reporters never saw these documents.
«One of the most common reasons for underreporting the value of vehicles among declarants is the lack of real, documented income to match the purchase price,» says Oleksii Boiko, a lawyer with the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
«With their official salaries, they simply cannot afford to buy such vehicles. In the case of Mykhailo Sych, this is likely the situation. In 2024, his total income (before taxes) was UAH 505,000 — meaning he actually received around UAH 400,000 after taxes — yet he purchased two cars for UAH 45,000 each. However, the average market price for a 2011 Toyota Prado ranges from UAH 740,000 to 1,140,000, and for a 2019 Jeep Compass — UAH 600,000 to 800,000. Clearly, based on his official income, the declarant could not report the true value of these vehicles. Moreover, as of the end of 2023, he had not declared any financial assets — so even if he had savings to cover the purchases, this explanation is contradicted by his own 2023 declaration,» the lawyer explains.
Read the full story HERE.
Vgoru
Treason for Export: Which Businesses in Occupied Kherson Region Are Gaining Excessive Profits During the War?
Team mentor: Nataliia Lazarovych, Bihus.Info
Publication date: August 28, 2025
Summary: Since February 24, 2022, over 3,000 companies based in the Kherson region have been registered in the Russian business registry. Many of them previously operated within Ukraine’s legal framework but were later either seized by occupying forces or voluntarily transitioned to operate under Russian law, continuing business under the new regime.
Last year, some companies on the occupied left bank of the region earned hundreds of millions of rubles. More than a hundred of these businesses reported tens of millions of rubles in net profit. Taxes paid by these companies now fill Russia’s budget and help fund its war against Ukraine.
Journalists from Vgoru analyzed a number of these «successful» enterprises in occupied Kherson and found that the most profitable ones are linked to former Ukrainian MPs and local council members.
The report outlines the past year’s profits of several companies operating in the left-bank part of Kherson, revealing how they managed to thrive amid wartime conditions.
Read the full investigation HERE.
Crimean Center for Investigative Journalism
«Now You’re Nothing to Them!» How Russians Abducted and Turned Residents of Care Institutions from Occupied Kherson into Hostages
Team mentor: Alisa Yurchenko, The Kyiv Independent
Publication date: September 1, 2025
Summary: On the morning of Friday, November 4, 2022, Lyudmyla Pestova from Nova Kakhovka was visiting her son Andrii. For several years, he had been living in the Dnipriany neuropsychiatric boarding house — a specialized institution providing permanent residence and care for adults with disabilities.
On her way home, she saw a convoy of buses driving in the opposite direction. Later, she learned that her son was on one of those buses — taken first to Crimea, then to Russia. From that moment on, Lyudmyla would begin a long struggle to find her son and prove to the occupiers that she was his mother and legal guardian.
That day, armed Russian forces forcibly removed 96 residents from the boarding house without informing their families or legal representatives. One of the patients panicked and tried to escape by hiding behind a nearby building. The Russians caught him and injected something to «calm him down». Soon after, they also took the bedridden patients, who were unable to move on their own.
«The boys didn’t want to leave and didn’t understand what was happening. The Russians acted like Gestapo agents from Nazi films. They dragged those poor people out by force, pulled them into buses. People screamed and resisted. It was heartbreaking to hear them cry,» witnesses recalled.
The journalists spoke with the families of those forcibly taken — individuals with severe disabilities — as well as with witnesses of this war crime.
Read more HERE.
4Vlada
A Tennis Court as a Cover: People Close to Shakyrzian Seek to Lease Prime Land on the Banks of Basiv Kut
Team mentor: Oleksandra Gubytska, NGL.media
Publication date: September 3, 2025
Summary: A little-known public organization in Rivne is seeking to lease a large plot of land — nearly one-third of a hectare — on the shore of Basiv Kut for 49 years. The request bypasses any public auction, as the land now contains a registered real estate object: a tennis court of 600 square meters and a surrounding fence.
However, the registration of this sports facility in the national real estate register raises serious questions. As uncovered by 4Vlada, it was done based in part on a non-existent document.
The investigation explores who is behind this scheme and reveals the involvement of a business partner of Viktor Shakyrzian, the acting mayor of Rivne.
Read the full story HERE.
Odessa Life
Odesa’s Slope and ₴100 Million for «Rostdorstroy»: No One Held Accountable for Repair After Repair
Team mentor: Alisa Yurchenko, The Kyiv Independent
Publication date: September 3, 2025
Summary: Blazhka Slope — a key transport artery in Odesa connecting the city center to an industrial district — was recently reopened to traffic after extensive repairs. Cars and minibuses now pass through again, while trams only resumed service on September 2.
This marked the second full closure and major repair in six years, in addition to several local fixes. The first overhaul, declared a capital repair, lasted a year and cost ₴72 million. Completed in 2020, it quickly proved substandard — within two years, the road surface and sidewalks began crumbling, and tram tracks started sinking. This despite the fact that the warranty period for the capital repair was five years.
A few patch-ups failed to stop the deterioration. As a result, the slope was closed again at the end of 2024 for another eight months — this time to replace the underground drainage system. The entire road and tram tracks had to be removed and laid down again. The second major repair cost an additional ₴34 million.
Both contracts were awarded to the same company — LLC «Rostdorstroy».
Odessa Life investigated why the drainage system was not included in the original capital repair and whether anyone will be held responsible for the excessive cost of redoing the asphalt and rails.
Read more HERE.
20 Hhvylyn (Ternopil)
A Space for IDPs or a Private Business? What’s Really Inside the Coworking Center Built with Grant Funds
Team mentor: Oleksandra Gubytska, NGL.media
Publication date: September 4, 2025
Summary: The European Union funded the construction of a coworking center in Sopilche Park, Ternopil, intended to provide equipped workspaces for internally displaced persons (IDPs). However, journalists from 20 Hhvylyn discovered that instead of serving displaced Ukrainians, the space now hosts and offers paid services by the JDC dance studio.
Thus, the project — initially presented as a socially significant initiative and financed through a grant — appears to have transformed into a private commercial venture.
In fact, it’s not just any business. Journalists uncovered that it is effectively controlled by the son of a Ternopil City Council official. Through investigative experiments, the team explored how a supposedly charitable initiative has been repurposed.
Read the full investigation HERE.
Tochka Dostupu
Collusion or Miscalculation? Tochka Dostupu Journalists Reveal the Full Story Behind Kropyvnytskyi’s New Buses Bought for ₴44 Million
Team mentor: Nataliia Onysko, NGL.media
Publication date: September 4, 2025
Summary: Earlier this year, Kropyvnytskyi welcomed new additions to its public transport fleet — large low-floor articulated buses, often called «accordion buses», with a capacity of up to 180 passengers. These vehicles, which had previously operated in various European countries, were brought in to address local issues such as a shortage of drivers due to mobilization and the need for blackout-resilient alternatives.
Currently, all 10 buses are operational, purchased on credit by the municipal enterprise «Electrotrans». However, just six months after their debut, it emerged that law enforcement had launched an investigation as early as January, exploring a possible overpayment during the acquisition.
Tochka Dostupu reported that these unique buses were purchased for ₴44 million. In January, Viktor Zhytnyk, head of Kropyvnytskyi’s Department of Transport, told journalists that the city had actually saved money — the same amount would only have bought two new trolleybuses, which wouldn’t solve the city’s transport issues. But by August, the prosecutor’s office had charged him. Both Zhytnyk and the director of «Electrotrans», Oleksandr Shkurupa, now face allegations of collusion. Investigators believe the officials abused their positions and overpaid by ₴12 million.
Tochka Dostupu delved into the details to find out whether these accusations hold up.
Read the full investigation HERE.
Intent
How Business Reservations Were Transformed in Odesa
Team mentor: Nataliya Onysko, NGL.media
Publication date: September 4, 2025
A scandal over fictitious deferments for employees of municipal enterprises continues in Odesa. Despite ongoing criminal proceedings, critical status has been restored even to those housing and maintenance offices whose managers are under investigation. City officials continue to conceal the number of deferred municipal employees, insisting that «the inspection is ongoing.» At the same time, the number of municipal workers has sharply increased.
It appears that the Odesa authorities are doing everything possible to ensure this story remains only in the Register of Court Decisions. However, Intent and the Center for Public Investigations discovered that our roofs and pipes have long been repaired — or, more accurately, not repaired — not by plumbers, but, for example, by a real estate agent or the head of a construction company.
Read the continuation of the story.
Ye (ye.ua)
Control Without Oversight: How Construction in Khmelnytskyi’s Historic Area Circumvents the Law
Team mentor: Nataliya Onysko, NGL.media
Photo: collage by Alina Mokh
Publication date: September 10, 2025
Despite a court ruling, Khmelnytskyi has still not established a specially authorized body for the protection of cultural heritage, while developers take advantage of this «blurred oversight» to dig foundations without archaeological supervision.
New construction in the city center of Khmelnytskyi is nothing unusual. However, nearly every project comes with disputes and suspicions, particularly regarding its legality in terms of cultural heritage preservation. After all, each development in the city’s historic core must undergo special approvals and include archaeological research.
And if you dig deeper, the situation with new construction in the central part of the city clearly shows the gap between the law and reality. Formally, the rules exist. But are they being enforced in practice?
The answers are in the investigation by the newsroom.
18000
A Scheme Worth Tens of Millions or Bondarenko’s Masterstroke? The Mayor Offers the Community a Land Deal with an Open Ending
Team mentor: Maksym Opanasenko, Bihus.Info
Collage: 18000
Publication date: September 11, 2025
On the morning of September 3, Cherkasy Mayor Anatoliy Bondarenko made an unexpected statement from an unusual location. It was not his office, the interior of his own Lexus, or his friend’s Mercedes. Instead, Bondarenko recorded a video on Lisova Prosika Street, a landscape familiar to many Cherkasy residents. Once a forest, the area is now known for the felled pines left behind by a local developer.
«Today I am addressing the city council members, the community, and the owners of this plot to consider the possibility of exchanging it for equivalent land — for example, in Mytnytsia or on the territory of the former military training ground,» Bondarenko said. Presumably, for the average citizen, this was intended to appear as a sincere step toward resolving the community’s pressing construction disputes.
However, when this statement and Bondarenko’s proposal are examined not through the lens of emotion, but rather through current legislation, business and political interests, and the real sentiments of key local officials, the situation takes on a very different character. So much so that, despite the mayor’s assurances, it resembles yet another land scheme — one that could cost the city tens of millions of hryvnias and its most valuable land plot.
Why this is the case is explained in the full investigation by 18000.
Molodyi Bukovynets
Why Are Shelters in Chernivtsi Neglected Despite Millions of Hryvnias Spent on Them?
Team mentor: Anastasiia Usenko, Bihus.Info
Publication date: September 11, 2025
In Chernivtsi, five people were killed as a result of a Russian missile strike on July 12. This tragedy has brought safety issues to the forefront: many residents admit they do not use shelters because they are either locked, unsuitable for staying in, or simply nonexistent. Despite millions allocated from the budget for protective structures, the condition of many of them remains unsatisfactory.
That is why the «MB» newsroom decided to investigate the state of shelters in Chernivtsi, how much public money has been allocated for their repairs, and who is responsible for them.
20 Khvylyn (Vinnytsia)
Stench, Algal Blooms, and Dead Fish: Who Is Polluting the Southern Bug the Most?
Team mentor: Anastasiia Usenko, Bihus.Info
Publication date: September 11, 2025
The Southern Bug — the main waterway of Podillia — is rapidly losing its cleanliness. Local residents note that the river is shallowing, gives off an unpleasant odor, and is covered with algal blooms, while dead fish have already become a common sight.
Who is really killing the river — businesses, municipal services, or the people themselves? Journalists from 20 Khvylyn investigated.
Skhidnyi variant
Former Kramatorsk City Council Official Heads Private Company, Wins Contracts from Ex-Colleagues
Team Mentor: Alisa Yurchenko, The Kyiv Independent
Date of publication: September 15, 2025
The private company «Management Company Dobrobut-Kramatorsk» received nearly 3 million UAH worth of municipal contracts after it was taken over by Mykhailo Petrenko — a former employee of the Kramatorsk City Council.
Heating system restoration in Kramatorsk — 620,000 UAH; road maintenance — 1 million; greenery maintenance — almost another million. What do these contracts have in common? They were all awarded to the local private company «Management Company Dobrobut-Kramatorsk».
Journalists analyzed the contracts awarded to «Dobrobut-Kramatorsk» by the City Housing and Communal Services Department. It turned out that the agreements signed by Mykhailo Petrenko, as the director of the private firm, were authorized by his former colleagues from the city council.
Kremenchutskyi Telegraf
In Declarations — Only a Trailer, in Reality — Property Worth Millions: What Is Known About the Former Head of the Kriukiv District Court in Kremenchuk
Team Mentor: Anastasiia Usenko, Bihus.Info
Date of publication: September 15, 2025
In June this year, Kremenchuk’s judicial system was shaken by the news that Ivan Diadechko, head of the Kriukiv District Court, had stepped down upon reaching the age of 65. «An era has ended», some might say — and they would not be wrong, as the judge had held the position for more than 20 years.
In his declaration, the official stated that he owned no real estate. At the time of his resignation, Ivan Diadechko indicated that he lived in the house of his ex-wife and drove a nearly decade-old Toyota Land Cruiser registered to an acquaintance. His declared assets included only a trailer, about 1.5 million hryvnias, and tens of thousands of dollars in savings.
Journalists, however, discovered that members of the former court head’s family own elite real estate in Kyiv. Its current market value is estimated at nearly 30 million hryvnias.
Zaporizhzhia Investigative Reporting Center
Shredinger’s Contractor and the Bureaucratic Vibe in Zaporizhzhia
Team Mentor: Maksym Opanasenko, Bihus.Info
Date of publication: September 15, 2025
From urban development to education — over the past three years, Vitalii Lysenko has somehow managed to rotate through four different positions within Zaporizhzhia’s city hall system. His impulsive speeches, vintage suits, and comical photos of homemade preserves on social media have, in a strange way, blended with manipulations of legislation and highly questionable contracts.
At the end of August, a court considered pre-trial measures against Lysenko, who is suspected of embezzling millions from the city budget. This seemed like a good reason to take a broader look at Vitalii Volodymyrovych’s biography and at the procurement practices of the Department of Education over the past year. While digging through contracts with a small private entrepreneur, journalists uncovered a very intriguing story.
Poltava Wave
«Fresh Graves in a Closed Cemetery: How the Shadow Death Business Thrives in Poltava»
Team Mentor: Maksym Opanasenko, Bihus.Info
Death. The most profitable business — one that no coach or «Wolf of Wall Street» has yet managed to reinvent. People have always died and will continue to die, creating opportunities for others to profit from funeral services, body storage, grave maintenance, and, of course, securing a burial spot itself.
In Poltava, it seems this business model has been mastered quite well. Here, anything is possible — from reserving a grave «for the future» to burying loved ones in cemeteries that have long been officially closed. The media reports not only on how this system operates but also on the actors involved — and, of course, on the «price of the matter».
Read the full investigation by the team here.
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The Stronger Together: Transparency and Anti-Corruption program is implemented by AIRPPU in partnership with WAN-IFRA and the Norwegian Media Association (MBL), with the support of Norway.
