Sytnyk dismissed from the DPA. The CPC accuses the MDU of trying to take control of the agency, the Defense Procurement Agency denies it

The Director of the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA) Arsen Zhumadilov has dismissed Artem Sytnyk from the position of his deputy. The Central Prosecurement Commission (CPC) says that this is an attempt by the Ministry of Defense (MDU) to take control of the Defense Procurement Agency, the agency denies this.

The Anti-Corruption Center was the first to report the dismissal, and the information was also confirmed to Babel by the Public Health Agency.

"The dismissal of the deputy director took place within the framework of staff reductions. This is a personnel decision of the head (director) in accordance with his managerial powers," the agency said in a comment to Babel.

Instead, the CPC claims that Sytnykʼs dismissal is another step by which "Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Arsen Zhumadilov ensure convenient and loyal control over the agency from the ministry".

"That is, they are actually turning an independent agency into a department of the Ministry of Defense, as happened before the reform to create the DPA. Purchasing weapons through an independent agency is one of the NATO standards that all developed countries adhere to," the CPC emphasized.

What does the CPC accuse Zhumadilov of?

According to the Central Procurement Commission, Zhumadilov allegedly destroyed the internal mutual control system created by Sytnyk, which helped the agency purchase weapons directly from manufacturers or first-tier suppliers, without so-called intermediaries.

"The essence of the system is as follows. The company sent a confidential commercial offer, which the DPA simply ignored. But the company was immediately approached by intermediaries who offered to buy the entire batch at the price specified in the commercial offer or even more expensive. Then the DPA or, for example, border guards bought the same weapons, but at a higher price. The margin remained outside Ukraine and was divided between the participants," the CPC says.

Anti-corruption activists noted that Sytnyk had implemented a procedure according to which the received commercial offers were immediately seen by several departments and deputy directors of the Public Health Organization. This made it impossible to ignore it. If the companies did not respond quickly according to a clear procedure, then Sytnyk or other managers “started asking unpleasant questions.”

What does Sytnyk himself say?

Commenting on the question of Zhumadilovʼs "destruction" of the internal mutual control system, Sytnyk stated that this should be "asked by those who are removing it."

"Reasonability does not always suit some boys and girls. A control system was created so that commercial offers would go through a procedure that was transparent and made it impossible to provide unjustified advantages to market participants. And this immediately led to a decrease in prices for the entire range. Now, as far as I know, the situation has returned to manual consideration of commercial offers. That is, to what was before I joined the agency," Sytnyk said in a comment to Suspilne.

What is the position of the Defense Procurement Agency?

In a comment to Babel, the Agency for Public Security rejects the CPCʼs accusations. They say that at the time of the appointment of the new head, the agency had neither a policy nor a full-fledged internal control system.

“There was also no separate unit responsible for these functions. The only structure that partially covered these issues was the security department. Its work was limited to spot checks of suppliers, providing physical security, and interacting with law enforcement agencies,” the agency’s response states.

DPA also noted that there were no mass layoffs at the agency — the vast majority of employees remained at work. In addition to the position of deputy, the positions of heads of the economic security department and the department for interaction with law enforcement agencies were vacant — both resigned of their own free will.

"It is worth noting separately that the thesis about reducing the share of special importers does not in reality mean increasing the share of manufacturers. Last year, the share of state specialized importers did indeed decrease, while the share of private special importers, as well as foreign intermediaries, increased. The share of manufacturers in the import structure did not undergo significant changes. Also, the process of receiving and processing commercial offers did not find favorable reviews in the market," the DPA emphasizes.

Instead, they say that in the two months after the change in management, the agency managed to:

• build a full-fledged internal control system in accordance with the international standard ISO 37001;
• develop a supplier authorization procedure to ensure transparent work with commercial offers;
• implement a procedure for checking conflicts of interest of employees in the defense industry;
• create a register of suppliers.

What is happening in the AOZ

The Defense Procurement Agency was created in July 2022, modeled after the NATO Support and Supply Agency. Its task is to make weapons purchases for Ukraine transparent and eliminate corruption. Since January 2024, the agency has been headed by Maryna Bezrukova. On January 20, 2025, the Supervisory Board of the Defense Procurement Agency submitted a recommendation to the Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov to extend the contract of the current director of the Agency Maryna Bezrukova for one year.

On January 23, the supervisory board concluded an additional agreement to extend the contract with Bezrukova. However, the next day, Umerov reported a change in the leadership of the Defense Procurement Agency. Umerov noted that the results of arms procurement were unsatisfactory, so the system needed to be changed.

On January 25, the AOZ announced that it would continue working under Bezrukovaʼs leadership, despite Umerovʼs decision. However, on January 27, Suspilne, citing its own sources, wrote that the minister had initiated an internal investigation into the agency, and Bezrukova had been suspended from work for the duration of the investigation.

Bezrukova herself said that her relations with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov "began to deteriorate" due to the incident with low-quality 120-mm mines.

On January 31, the Ministry of Defense announced that from February 1, the Defense Procurement Agency will be headed by Arsen Zhumadilov, who previously headed the State Logistics Operator, instead of Marina Bezrukova. Bezrukova appealed to President Volodymyr Zelensky to intervene in the conflict. Zelensky said that Minister Umerov has the right to do everything to avoid slowing down the provision of weapons to the Ukrainian army.

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