All Ukrainian arms and ammunition specialty importers receive 3% of the contract value for their services. At best, this allows companies to go through this difficult time without losses, i.e. break even, military expert Serhiy Zgurets explained in a commentary to UNN .
The outbreak of a full-scale war completely changed the Ukrainian defense industry. Ukraine's armed forces needed a large number of weapons as quickly as possible. Therefore, from the first days of the large-scale invasion, Ukrainian specialty exporters switched to importing all weapons to Ukraine. When purchasing weapons and ammunition for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine , special importers assume guarantees for the fulfillment of these contracts. They receive a 3% commission for their services in importing weapons.
This 3% goes to support the activities of the importers themselves, because we have special exporters who have become special importers... It allows these companies to exist and pay salaries
Як українська компанія може стати спецімпортером озброєння: пояснення МОУ01.04.24, 17:16
According to him, when these companies were working on arms exports, the percentage they received from contracts varied and sometimes reached 20%. When the companies started working on imports, their earnings were limited to 3%.
And this, in fact, at best, allows these specialty importers to work at zero
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It is difficult for Ukraine to buy much-needed ammunition for its army because the arms market is very specific and operates as a large monopolywhere the main players know each other. Therefore, the Ministry of Defense often has to involve intermediaries in the process of purchasing ammunition on the world market, in particular from the Balkan countries. Experts notethat sometimes this leads to an increase in the price of supplies, but due to the high competition in the arms market, counterparties should be accepted as a "necessary element of the game.
The Ministry of Defense reportedthat in 2022-2023, it signed state contracts for the purchase of weapons and ammunition with more than 130 contractors, including 30 foreign companies.
The Ukrainian Armor Company described what tasks a special exporter undertakes when purchasing weapons. In particular, special exporters search for reliable supply channels at the lowest prices and have to conduct inspections of production facilities and stocks.