Global Voice
The Ukrainian Defence Ministry has established a new logistics planning department to draw up long-term procurement plans for food, clothing, fuel, lubricants, and technical equipment for the country’s armed forces in response to allegations of corruption by foreign auditors, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Vitaliy Polovenko said on Wednesday.
“We recognise that in times of war, we cannot completely avoid some emergency procurement requests. But we can reduce the number of such cases. The main task of the department is to develop an annual procurement plan. That is, to minimise the urgent need when the Ministry needs to buy something for the Armed Forces urgently. Previously, this approach affected both the quality and price of goods. Therefore, the newly created Department should partially resolve this issue,” Polovenko was quoted as saying by Ukrainian news agency UNN.
The department will analyse the market and determine the estimated cost, the official was cited as saying, adding that the purchases will be conducted directly by the Ukrainian State Logistics Operator.
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Yuriy Dzhygyr has said that his ministry discovered financial violations of more than $270 million in the last quarter of 2023.
