The NABU and the SAPO reported the exposure of a kickback scheme in road repairs in the Poltava Region. Among the suspects are officials of the Housing and Utility Services Department and Yurii Brazhnyk, a member of the Poltava City Council. According to the investigation, this concerns the systematic receipt of bribes from contractors.

The prosecution established that the officials demanded from companies a kickback of 10% of the value of contracts for the maintenance and routine repair of local roads. The total unlawful benefit received amounts to over UAH 7.7 million.

The suspects are charged as follows:

• Yurii Brazhnyk, a member of the Poltava City Council — Article 368(4) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;
• Maksym Teslenko, an official of the Poltava City Council — Article 368(4);
• Volodymyr Tuzenko and Viktor Priadko, representatives of contracting companies — Article 369(3).

On June 11, 2026, the HACC held a hearing to consider the motion to apply a preventive measure to Yurii Brazhnyk. In his address, the prosecutor gave a fuller account of the accomplices' corruption scheme.

In the prosecution's view, Yurii Brazhnyk, as a member of the Poltava City Council, organized the extortion and receipt of bribes from contractors with which the Housing and Utility Services Department concluded contracts, during the period from April 2024 to January 2026.

The money came in through a currency exchange office — over UAH 59 million in total over the specified period. According to the prosecutor, Brazhnyk brought into the scheme Maksym Teslenko, deputy head of the Housing and Utility Services Department, who, according to the investigation, negotiated the kickback amounts with the contractors. The bribes were demanded for the unimpeded performance of the works contracts, the timely payment for the work, and the conclusion of new contracts.

The prosecution noted that Brazhnyk could actively influence the suspects in order to conceal the circumstances of the offense. The prosecutor also emphasized that Maksym Teslenko, deputy head of Poltava's Housing and Utility Services Department, and Volodymyr Tuzenko, a representative of a contracting organization, had already given incriminating testimony against the council member, which fully coincides with the conversations and terms recorded through covert investigative actions.

Yurii Brazhnyk's defense completely rejected the prosecutor's arguments. According to his lawyer, the councilor could not and cannot in any way influence the witnesses, who have already been questioned; he has a daughter and a mother as dependents and has no prior criminal record. The lawyer called the bail amount unjustified and unaffordable in light of the income that Brazhnyk had declared as a council member. Brazhnyk himself stated at the hearing that he had never intended to influence the course of the investigation or to put pressure on the other suspects.