Millions for paving, not shelter: how the city next to the nuclear power plant ignored child protection

In Netishyn, near the Khmelnytskyi NPP, the local administration significantly reduced funding for a shelter for students at an academic lyceum, from 9 to 4.5 million hryvnias. This led to the need to re-announce the tender, and the students were left without proper protection during alarms for two years.

In 2022, the lyceum administration appealed to the city authorities with a request to equip a shelter, the cost of which was estimated at 10 million hryvnias. However, the estimate was strangely reduced by almost half, to 4.9 million. The first tender for this amount was announced only in August 2023, with plans to complete the work by October. However, the implementation dates were constantly postponed, leading to a new purchase in March 2025 for 4.8 million hryvnias.

The lyceum director, Tamila Sobolyk, expressed her indignation at the budget cuts: “I was shocked. It negatively affected me.” Acting Mayor Ivan Romanyuk explained that the decision to reduce the project’s cost was made due to the unpredictability of the students’ stay in the shelter.

It should be noted that the Khmelnytskyi NPP is an object of critical infrastructure and is subject to a constant threat of shelling. Subsequently, due to frequent air raids, the authorities reconsidered their positions, but some of the work had already been completed by then.

The children were left without proper shelter while officials reviewed their actions. The lyceum director reported that due to delays in repairs, building materials prices were increasing, and negotiations with the capital construction department complicated the situation.

The shelter’s repair work had already been completed at the time of the investigation. The new shelter meets modern standards and is already equipped with ventilation, a medical room, and inclusive access, although such a decision could have been made as early as 2022.

This savings period on student safety contrasts with the allocation of 1.5 million hryvnias for paving, which took place after the start of a full-scale war. This calls into question the possibility of financing the shelters, and the director of the lyceum believes that the delays are due to political decisions by the city authorities.

The number of questions about students’ reliability and safety remains high, while the processes of arranging shelters have become evidence of insufficient attention to security issues.