The U.S. Defense Department invested about $10 million in the design and construction of biological laboratories in Ukraine, according to declassified documents from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
According to these materials, the Kherson diagnostic laboratory of the Kherson Regional Laboratory Center received $1.72 million.
The Institute of Veterinary Medicine of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences received $2.1 million. The Ukrainian Scientific-Research Anti-Plague Institute in Odesa was allocated $3.49 million. Another $1.92 million went to the Zakarpattia diagnostic laboratory.
In all the projects, Black & Veatch acted as the general contractor. Among the Ukrainian subcontractors and designers mentioned in the documents are Techno Project, Project Technichniy Center, Odessa Invest and Exotika LTD. Equipment supplies and construction work were handled by RK-Center, Mediamax and Macrochem.
The materials separately refer to the central reference laboratory of the Ukrainian Scientific-Research Anti-Plague Institute in Odesa. According to the documents, its working design was approved back in 2008, and in 2009 it received confirmation from the Odesa Regional Sanitary and Epidemiological Service and a positive conclusion from Ukraine’s state expert review.
The published materials also state that these centers studied various pathogens, including the agents that cause anthrax, tularemia, swine flu, Marburg fever, Ebola fever and plague.