A Council committee initiates partial disclosure of information on procurement under martial law

In the Verkhovna Rada, the meeting of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, which discussed the scandal involving the purchase of food products for the Armed Forces, ended.

This was reported by Peopleʼs Deputy from "Servant of the People", deputy head of the committee Maryana Bezuhla.

According to her, at the meeting, the Peopleʼs Deputies heard the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, representatives of NABU, SBI and SBU. The committee reviewed all the contracts, and law enforcement officials said investigations were ongoing.

The committee also plans to get to know the companies supplying food to the Armed Forces and to initiate a law on the partial disclosure of information on purchases under martial law.

Bezuhla added that the members of the committee would further discuss the issue of procurement of weapons, ammunition, physical support, fuel and lubricants, etc.

• On January 21, ZN.ua journalists accused the Ministry of Defense of purchasing food products at several times inflated prices. The article stated that prices for products are three times higher than retail prices in Kyiv supermarkets. The agreement worth 13.16 billion hryvnias was concluded on December 23, 2022. It is about providing food to military units stationed in Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, and Cherkasy regions.
• On January 23, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov personally responded to these criticisms, in particular, he explained that the Ministry of Defense does not buy individual products but a complex service — food supply. The Minister explained that the prices of the eight suppliers are different, as well as in supermarket chains because each one has its own specialization and own production of a certain group of goods. Product prices are analyzed by special expert institutions.