The Defence Procurement Agency does not utilize the budget and disrupts deliveries

The Defence Procurement Agency does not utilize the budget and disrupts deliveries

At the end of November, the country was shaken by a scandal – by order No.1191-r, the Cabinet of Ministers transferred 23 billion hryvnias from the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine to the Administration of the State Border Guard Service for the procurement of weapons for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to purchase ammunition from the Polish intermediary company “PHU Lechmar Sp.z.o.o”.

The transfer of 23 billion from the Ministry of Defence to the State Border Guard Service is a cocktail with a taste of corruption and … sabotage. The desire of some officials to profit from procurement from a sole intermediary supplier coincided with the unprofessionalism of other officials and the unwillingness to allocate our funds for the timely delivery of ammunition.

On December 14, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine commented to the publication «LIGA.net» on the decision regarding such a allocation of funds: by the end of November, the Defence Procurement Agency had 45 billion hryvnias of unallocated funds.

Think about it: November, and the Defence Procurement Agency still has not determined where to direct 1/7 of its annual budget! It feels like our defenders are fully equipped with drones, ammunition, quality mortar mines, and everything else.

Sources in our publication at the Ministry of Defence report that dissatisfaction with the work of Maryna Bezrukova is growing – the Agency not only does not use the funds provided by the budget but also juggles the needs of the military, signing contracts only for what affiliated suppliers offer – without regard for deadlines or prices. Political scientist Andriy Myselyuk writes about this. «The Agency operates on the principle: better not to use the funds than to buy something not from our affiliates,» they say at the Ministry of Defence.

A critical situation arises again with 120 mm mortar ammunition – this year, the Agency contracted over 1 million mines of this caliber, but the Armed Forces received … only 35% of the planned volumes. This is despite the fact that the Agency does not stop the supply of «problematic» mines from state factories.

According to available information, the results of 2024 no longer concern Maryna Bezrukova – she is now trying to conclude as many contracts as possible for the upcoming periods, securing a successful life after leaving the Ministry of Defence.