Officials from the Dnipropetrovsk region suspected of supplying defective shells to the Armed Forces of Ukraine were given preventive measures

The Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv has imposed preventive measures on officials of a defense plant in the Dnipropetrovsk region. They are suspected of supplying a batch of defective mortar shells to the Ukrainian military.

This is reported by a correspondent of Suspilne.

On April 30, a preventive measure was imposed on the companyʼs general director Leonid Shyman. And on May 1, his first deputy Oleksiy Kyrychenko was placed under preventive measures.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) also detained the former head of one of the military offices of the Ministry of Defense Mykhailo Shkurenko, and the head of the control group of the relevant unit Yuriy Yaresko. They were placed in preventive custody on Wednesday.

All four suspects will be held in custody without bail until June 27. Suspilne correspondents in court reported that prosecutors have filed a motion for a closed trial.

"The motion for criminal proceedings and the attached materials contain information with limited access, namely about the technical characteristics, methods, logistics of supplying the Armed Forces of Ukraine, information about military units, location, and level of support," argued prosecutor Bohdan Olkhovyi.

What is known about the case?

Shyman, Kyrychenko, Shkurenko, and Yaresko were detained on April 29. According to the investigation, in early 2024, the plantʼs managers signed a contract with the Defense Procurement Agency to manufacture ammunition for the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The enterprise was supposed to supply the army with wholesale batches of 120-mm mortar shells.

According to SBU, the defendants used poor-quality materials and performed defective work. Because of this, the primer of the main propellant charge was faulty, and the entire powder charge worked unstable. False data was entered into the reports. Thus, 120 thousand unusable rounds ended up on the front.

The four detainees were informed of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. They face 15 years in prison.

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