Limited Liability Company "Spetsmashkomplekt", the only private manufacturer of 12.7×99 mm and 12.7×108 mm caliber cartridges in Ukraine, was forced to halt production after searches by the Security Service of Ukraine. In a comment to UNN, the company's director Ihor Holtvenko said that the Prosecutor General's Office reacted to the situation.
The manufacturer was accused of producing substandard products.
"On Friday, we had a meeting at the Prosecutor General's Office. We were able to tell everything, they listened carefully to us, and promised an objective investigation. I am confident that under the control of the Prosecutor General, this entire criminal case will end in nothing," Holtvenko said.
The head of the enterprise expects the issue to be resolved as soon as possible, as he is convinced that the products are of high quality and meet all requirements. According to Holtvenko, they consistently fulfilled all previous orders from the Ministry of Defense and had no complaints.
"The company is a private manufacturer of 12.7×99 mm and 12.7×108 mm caliber cartridges. These are the cartridges used by mobile fire groups to shoot down 'Shaheds'. You all saw machine guns mounted on pickup trucks — these caliber cartridges are used there. By the way, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about strengthening such groups on his Facebook page," Holtvenko noted.
About criminal proceedings and the essence of the accusations
The manufacturers were accused of producing "substandard products." The proceedings themselves were opened under the article – obstruction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Criminal proceedings were initiated in October 2025. The accusation states: "Officials of Spetsmashinkomplekt LLC, in order to accelerate the production of the ordered quantity of cartridges, organized the production of cartridges using low-quality components (using low-quality gunpowder from different batches, not annealing the cartridge case, using a bullet with a steel core that has microcracks, and a number of other violations)."
On February 12, 2026, SBU employees conducted searches as part of a criminal investigation opened, according to Holtvenko, based on unreliable data. Searches were conducted at the enterprise, as well as at the homes of the management. According to Holtvenko, searches were also conducted at some counterparties of Spetsmashkomplekt LLC. As a result of the actions of law enforcement officers, production stopped.
"We are not a state enterprise. We did everything from scratch, independently. And now there are no orders – the enterprise has stopped. And as long as there is this criminal proceeding, I am convinced there will be no orders," says Holtvenko.
According to him, the case against the enterprise seems absurd, as all products have passed the necessary tests (on the PROTOTYPA ballistic complex) and have the necessary certificates. The batches that appear in the criminal proceedings have also passed additional tests at the Ministry of Defense.
"Where did they get the information about low-quality gunpowder? We get it from one of the largest European manufacturers," Holtvenko refutes the accusations, pointing out that the materials mention technological processes that are not provided for at all in the cartridge production process.
Currently, according to the director of "Spetsmashinkomplekt", they insist on conducting expert examinations of the products and expect that the research will confirm the proper quality of the cartridges.