The Kyiv City State Administration responded to the suspicion against Valentyn Kulbako: "The builders are to blame, not the officials"

The Kyiv City State Administration responded to the suspicion against Valentyn Kulbako: "The builders are to blame, not the officials"

The Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) has responded to the issuance of a suspicion notice to one of the deputy directors of the Department of Transport Infrastructure, Valentyn Kulbako. His superior, Ruslan Kandybor, received a suspicion notice earlier, on July 10, 2025. Prosecutors consider Kandybor responsible for the accident that occurred in December 2023 in the tunnel of the "blue" metro line. However, the flooding of the tunnel between "Demiivska" and "Lybidska" continues to have criminal consequences: Kulbako is already the fifth suspect, including the former head of the capital’s metro, the fugitive Brahinskyi.

This was reported by Informator.

The Department of Transport reacted to the issuance of the suspicion notice with a statement emphasizing that it is not yet proof of guilt. They state that Kandybor’s deputy is cooperating with the investigation and insists on an impartial inquiry. Meanwhile, the Department of Transport continues to assert, as always, that the accident was not caused by those responsible for maintaining the condition of tunnels and stations, but by those who poorly designed and constructed them.

“The conclusions of the official engineering and technical expertise, submitted to law enforcement agencies, confirmed: the emergency situation occurred due to design errors and construction flaws in the tunnel, which led to the infiltration of groundwater,” the Department of Transport reiterated, repeating what everyone hears every time.

However, they noted that after the accident, the metro and city services acted promptly. Train traffic was halted, alternative routes were organized, and emergency repair works were initiated. Additionally, they “strengthened control over the state of infrastructure,” although this should have been done somewhat earlier—before the accident.

Regarding Kulbako, who received the suspicion notice, he is accused of official negligence that led to the temporary closure of a metro section in December 2023. As noted by the prosecutor’s office, he failed to oversee the metro’s operations in matters within the competence of his department and did not participate in organizing efforts to mitigate the consequences of the accident. According to the investigation, negligence and lack of oversight, including on the part of the official, contributed to the flooding of the tunnel and caused damages to the capital’s budget amounting to 164 million UAH.

Valentyn Kulbako himself also publicly shared his position. On the air of the "Kyiv 24" TV channel, he stated that he was surprised by the suspicion notice and noted that at the time of the construction of this part of the blue line, he had no involvement in its design or implementation. Moreover, according to Kulbako, the tunnel was built in a rush and under challenging hydrogeological conditions.

Similar arguments were provided by Ruslan Kandybor—Kulbako’s superior and the director of the Department—who was served a suspicion notice in July. The prosecutor’s office accused him of neglecting to address metro issues, maintaining the position that it was the improper operation and inaction of the transport department and metro leadership that allowed the situation to reach a critical scale. In addition to Kandybor and Kulbako, suspicion notices in this case were also issued to the former head of the metro, Viktor Brahinskyi, the head of the track, tunnel structures, and buildings service, and the chief engineer of the metro.