Since 2022, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has filed more than 100 lawsuits in courts over the failure to fulfill contracts for the supply of weapons and ammunition to the army. The Ministry of Defense reported this in response to a request from UNN.
Earlier, experts commented to UNN that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, some countries did not want to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the sale of ammunition, as they feared that our country would lose the war and no one would pay for it. Therefore, out of critical necessity, the Ministry of Defense was forced to sign contracts with all companies that claimed to be able to supply the shells.
"The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine filed 2 claims with the courts for non-fulfillment (improper fulfillment) of contractual obligations by business entities in 2022, 95 claims in 2023, and 11 claims in 2014," the MoD said.
The Ministry also reported that according to the Department of Military and Technical Policy, usually, under contracts for the purchase of weapons, an advance payment of up to 97% of the cost of the goods is required. At the same time, the state-owned Defense Procurement Agency added that the procurement of goods for national security and defense is carried out without any restrictions on the amount of advance payment.
In addition, contracts for the purchase of weapons and ammunition provide for penalties for delay or failure to fulfill the terms of the contracts.
"In case of violation of the terms of delivery of the Goods, the Contractor shall be charged a penalty in the amount of 0.1% of the value of the Goods for which the delay in performance was allowed for each day of delay, and for a delay of more than thirty days, an additional penalty of up to 7% of the specified value shall be charged. In case of refusal to deliver the Goods, the Contractor shall be obliged to pay a fine in favor of the Customer in the amount of up to 7% of the value of the undelivered (undelivered) Goods," the response to the request reads.
In addition, if the MoD has made an advance payment for goods and the contractor fails to meet the delivery deadlines, the latter is obliged to pay interest on the use of funds.
Recovery of funds from contractors is voluntary or judicial, and is not possible unless there are documented circumstances that affect the ability to fulfill contractual obligations and the MoD is notified of such circumstances in advance.
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It is difficult for Ukraine to buy much-needed ammunition for the army because the arms market is very specific and operates as a large monopolywhere the main players know each other. In addition, Russia is creating problems on the global market so that Ukraine cannot buy weapons and ammunition of a special Soviet design. In particular, the aggressor country uses its influence on the Balkan countries, where there are still warehouses with such weapons.