Ministry of Defense launches "Logistics Lockdown" worth UAH 5 billion; experts warn of risks of "shadow" procurement

The Ministry of Defense has announced the launch of the "Logistics Lockdown" program, which involves scaling middle-strike capabilities for the systematic destruction of Russian logistics, warehouses, equipment, and command posts at operational depth. At the same time, after the curtailment of publicity in defense procurement, effective public control over the use of funds in this area has effectively disappeared, and a significant portion of contracts has moved "into the shadows," military expert Oleh Zhdanov noted in a comment to UNN.

In the first stage of the "Logistics Lockdown" program, the Ministry of Defense, together with the General Staff, allocated an additional 5 billion UAH directly to military units for the purchase of modern middle-strike assets. According to Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov, the funds will be received by the most effective brigades and units according to the "eBaly" system, and direct procurement has already started.

"Our task now – following the President's instructions – is to maximize the scaling of middle strike and, in coordination with the military, create a complete logistics lockdown for the enemy,"

Against the backdrop of scaling defense procurement, the issue of controlling the use of funds is becoming increasingly acute.

"After the elimination of the procedure (publicity of defense procurement – ed.), there is no control at all from the public through Prozorro, because all procurement has gone into the shadows behind the fence of the Ministry of Defense. And today, there is a very large shadow component in these procurements,"

According to him, today the open part of defense procurement is available only in fragmentary form – through separate publications on government resources that still need to be specifically searched for. At the same time, the expert emphasizes that the issue of transparency during the war has a flip side. On the one hand, there should be public control, but on the other – in a state of war, publicity should be as limited as possible.

In his opinion, the lack of public control can be partially compensated for by creating a separate mechanism or committee that would regularly hear from representatives of the Ministry of Defense regarding the justification of procurements and the fulfillment of requests from the military.

"We separated the Ministry of Defense from the General Staff for this very purpose – the General Staff handles the war and forms requests, and the Ministry of Defense must ensure their fulfillment,"

As a reminder

Despite the change in leadership at the Ministry of Defense and public statements about the need to clean up the defense procurement system, global changes in this area have not yet occurred. This was stated by the head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, Vitaliy Shabunin. According to him, the defense procurement system needs strengthened control and reform, especially in conditions where Ukraine receives tens of billions of euros in international defense aid.

Shabunin noted that despite personnel changes in the Ministry of Defense, "the change of the system is not yet visible," and the only noticeable step was the appointment of Taras Chmut as a representative of the Ministry of Defense to the Supervisory Board of the Defense Procurement Agency.

He also recalled that Ukraine will receive tens of billions of euros in international aid for defense needs, in particular for the purchase of weapons and drones, and therefore the issue of transparency and control over the distribution of these funds becomes critically important.