Director of Kyiv Fortress suspected of embezzling almost a million hryvnias
9 April 2024 14:39
The police, the Security Service of Ukraine and the prosecutor’s office accuse the director of the Kyiv Fortress museum of embezzling almost a million hryvnias, Komersant ukrainskyi 
reports.
According to police investigator Nikita Korshak, the museum director signed an agreement with a contractor to carry out restoration work on one of the fortress towers at inflated prices:
“In the course of the pre-trial investigation, we found that the offender signed acceptance certificates for the work performed, in which the cost of construction materials was significantly overstated. Thus, by her actions, she caused damage to the National Museum in the amount of UAH 868 thousand.”
Investigators served the woman a notice of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – embezzlement of property through abuse of office, if committed on a particularly large scale. The sanction of the article provides for up to twelve years’ imprisonment with disqualification to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years and confiscation of property.
Since 2017, Oksana Novikova-Vyhran has been the museum’s director. It is known that in 2020-2021, the museum carried out emergency repairs to restore Tower 4, for which the city allocated UAH 10.6 million.
Kyiv Fortress
The National Historical and Architectural Museum “Kyiv Fortress” was created on the basis of the Hospital Fortification of the Kyiv Fortress. The museum includes three expositions: “Fortification on the Territory of Ukraine”, “History of the Use of the Kyiv Fortress Facilities”, and an open-air exhibition with defensive ramparts, a fortress wall and caponiers. The museum also includes the largest stone and earth fort in Europe, the Lysohirsk Fort, covering an area of about 120 hectares.
The fortifications that make up the Kyiv Fortress were built over a period of almost 200 years from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
Today, Kyiv Fortress is one of the world’s largest surviving fortifications.
