The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBSU) showed another batch of ammunition for the front, purchased under a contract for 23 billion UAH.
The published photos show 152 mm and 122 mm shells, shells for multiple launch rocket systems, and 120 caliber mines.
The Spokesperson for the State Border Service of Ukraine Andriy Demchenko, in a comment to Babel, noted that the Border Service continues to work within the framework of delegated powers to purchase ammunition for units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 23 billion.
"As we have already reported, payment under the contracts was made at the end of December 2024, and the delivery dates are scheduled throughout the year. However, this does not mean that all goods will arrive by the end of the year. Delivery is already underway. The supplier “PHU Lechmar”, which some critics are trying to portray as a scam, and the sale of these funds as a money grab, adheres to the specified schedules," he emphasized.
Demchenko emphasized that the next batch of equipment from the UAH 23 billion procurement is already in Ukraine and has already been handed over to the Ukrainian military. Babel sources say that the first deliveries under this contract began arriving in Ukraine in early March.
What preceded
At the end of December 2024, the Ministry of Defense transferred 23 billion hryvnias to the State Border Guard Service. This money was taken from the Defense Procurement Agency, which, according to the ministry, did not have time to spend the budget allocated to it.
Anti-corruption activists — the head of the Central Anti-Corruption Commission Vitaliy Shabunin and the editor-in-chief of “Nashi Hrozhi” Yuriy Nikolov — called it a scam and said that the border guards and the ministry had “squeezed the money” and were planning to “saw it down”. In particular, Nikolov emphasized that the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine planned to purchase weapons through the dubious Polish company “PHU Lechmar” is not a manufacturer, but simply a “scam” with a bad reputation. Later, it turned out that “Lechmar” was actually a well-known intermediary in the arms market.
On March 24, the MP from “Voice” Yaroslav Zheleznyak published the State Border Guard Serviceʼs response to his parliamentary inquiry and stated that the anti-corruption activists were right — “Lechmar” had failed to deliver weapons under the latest contracts. Babel analyzed all of the MP Zheleznyakʼs statements and explained where he was wrong.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.