Andriy Sadovyi’s “Unbroken”: international millions, closed reporting, suspicions of corruption with prostheses, and “golden” benches for 141 thousand. UAH

The Unbroken National Rehabilitation Center, the flagship PR project of Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, is at the center of a serious scandal. Despite attracting tens of millions of euros in international aid, the center’s financial statements remain closed to the public. The city council systematically evades answering official requests from journalists.

There is a request – no response

Back in May 2025, the editorial board of Tvoe Misto sent an official request to the Lviv City Council. The journalists asked to disclose information about all sources of funding for the center-from international donors, businesses, philanthropists, and the local budget-and to explain how the money is spent, whether an audit was conducted, and who controls the use of funds.

The city council registered the request, promised to respond, and then kept silent. No response was received. This is not the forgetfulness of officials – it is a deliberate evasion of accountability.

More than 11 million euros – and not a single public financial report

The scale of the funds raised leaves no doubt about the critical importance of transparency:

• EUR 2.1 million raised at a donor forum in June 2022
• EUR 5.6 million from the Lithuanian government for the reconstruction of the center in Bryukhovychi
• EUR 2.5 million from the Japanese Red Cross
• EUR 2.5 million from the German organization GIZ
• 620 thousand euros from Lithuania for the reconstruction of a villa into a mental rehabilitation space
• Additional funds were provided by the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and the partner city of Freiburg
• UAH 50 million from the city budget of Lviv in 2023

Despite this amount of money, the official website of Unbroken only contains the report of the Unbroken Charitable Foundation, a separate legal entity. The financial report of the rehabilitation center itself is not publicly available.

Sadovyi’s team in key positions

The personnel composition of the center’s management eloquently indicates in whose hands the control over financial flows is concentrated:

• Iryna Zaslavets, the head of the Unbreakable project, is also the director of communications and partnerships at the First TMA, a municipal utility company in the city.
• Oleh Bereziuk, head of psychological rehabilitation, previously served as director of the humanitarian policy department of the Lviv City Council, was acting deputy mayor for humanitarian affairs and ran for the Verkhovna Rada as a member of the Samopomich party, the party of Sadovyi.
• Oleksandr Kobzarev, head of the Unbreakable Charitable Foundation, is a member of the Lviv Regional Council, also from Samopomich.

Thus, the management of tens of millions of euros of international aid is concentrated in the hands of people from Sadovyi’s inner circle and his party.

Overpricing of prostheses for the wounded

In addition to the problem of closed reporting, sources familiar with the center’s internal operations report that the cost of prosthetics and related products for wounded defenders is significantly overstated. It is virtually impossible to independently verify this data, precisely because there is no public financial control over the center.

“Golden” benches in Sadovyi: how budget millions end up in the estimates

When financial flows are not subject to public control, money disappears due to inflated estimates. This is exactly what Espresso journalists found when they unearthed a tender from the Lviv Housing Department for the arrangement of a barrier-free space in the UNBROKEN prosthetic workshop. The purchase for UAH 54.8 million was predictably awarded to Onur Construction International LLC.

But the real scandal is in the details of the estimate.

The most expensive item among the outdoor furniture was a regular four-meter bench type 5 at UAH 141,665 per piece, excluding VAT. Six benches of this type were ordered, totaling almost UAH 850 thousand.

bench type 5, photo: tender documentation

A few market comparisons are enough to understand the scale of cynicism:

• The most expensive premium bench in Epicenter is UAH 94,481
• Customized bench made of thermowood with intricate carvings – UAH 36 579
• The most expensive model with a backrest and handrails in its segment is UAH 34,046
• The type 6 bench from the same Sadovyi tender costs UAH 48,010, which is three times cheaper than the “record holder”

In other words, for the price of one “garden” bench, you could buy at least three of the most expensive street benches on the open market.

And the icing on the cake: the cost of six of these benches at 141 thousand hryvnias each will cost the budget 300 thousand hryvnias more than the purchase of a full-fledged industrial solar power plant with a capacity of 30 kW.

This is not an error in the estimate. This is a scheme. “Unbroken is not just a rehabilitation center. It is a brand that Sadovyi has been using for years to shape the international image of Lviv and his own political capital. That is why the complete financial secrecy of this project – with enormous amounts of international and budgetary support – is not a technical flaw, but a conscious policy.

Wounded defenders deserve high-quality rehabilitation and the funds raised for them by the whole world to be spent transparently and accountably. Instead, Sadovyi’s team has chosen silence for years.