In the last four months, the Ministry of Defense discovered violations amounting to more than UAH 10 billion — the audit is ongoing

In the Ministry of Defense, the internal audit and the updated general inspection were fully operational. The head of the department Rustem Umerov says that in the last four months, violations of more than 10 billion hryvnias have been discovered.

According to him, it is about equipment and low-quality purchases that were made earlier — all information is passed on to law enforcement officers.

For example, in December, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense, eliminated a corruption scheme regarding the purchase of ammunition for the Armed Forces for almost UAH 1.5 billion, the minister said.

"At the same time, we are working to solve the problem systematically: we are implementing a new procurement architecture according to NATO standards. We are rebuilding procurement mechanisms so as not to harm the continuous supply of weapons and rear assets of the Armed Forces. From now on, the Ministry of Defense establishes the rules of the game, forms policies, and controls bidding. Procurement is carried out by two special agencies," Umerov wrote.

The first agency presented recently is the State rear operator, which will purchase rear property, including food, clothing, and fuel. The ministry is also rebooting the Defense Procurement Agency, which specializes in arms procurement, the minister said.

"There are already concrete results. In four months, it was possible to save approximately 3.5 billion hryvnias for all back-office purchases. This is approximately 20% of the planned purchase amount," he added.

• In 2023, the Ministry of Defense was involved in procurement-related scandals several times. In January, against the background of scandals, the director of the procurement department Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and the deputy minister of defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov were dismissed — they were informed of suspicions in three cases. In addition, the investigators of the National Police informed Shapovalovʼs adviser of the suspicion of taking possession of more than 1.7 billion UAH intended for the purchase of goods for the Armed Forces.
• After the scandals, the Ministry of Defense created a special department to prevent corruption in defense procurement.