The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov, announced changes in the nutrition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — it is about a flexible but unified menu system.
He told about this on Facebook on January 25.
The basis of this approach, which is common in NATO, will not be money and calories, but units of measurement (grams/pieces) and calories. Currently, the catalog system has a selection of 409 items from which military units form a ration for soldiers with an energy value of 3,500 calories per day.
There are also plans to develop a vegan, halal, kosher and fasting menu.
At the meeting of the anti-corruption committee on January 24, Reznikov announced his commitment to introduce the menu within 4-5 months. This task was identified as a priority. Now it is necessary to create a working group that will work out the issues from the implementation procedures to the content of the menu. Reznikov calls the challenge the fact that there are special requirements for the nutrition of the types, branches and forces of the Armed Forces: there are sailors, paratroopers, and aviation with their own characteristics, there are also differences between nutrition in the field at the front and at a point of permanent deployment.
Together with the committees, the Ministry of Defense will find a format that will guarantee the safety of suppliers and make procurement more transparent and budget funds more accessible for public control.
- 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.
- On January 24, it became known that Deputy Minister of Defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who was responsible for the rear support of the Armed Forces, resigned.