Weapons That Never Reached the Front: Where Billions in Prepayments Disappeared under the Leadership of Arsen Zhumadilov

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have found themselves in a situation where money appears to have been allocated, yet the army is forced to keep using equipment that was ordered last year. There are still no new contracts for armored vehicles or critically needed shells, legendary defense enterprises are preparing to halt payrolls, and billion-level debts for undelivered weapons are staggering.

This is reported by the investigative agency Absolution.

What is happening in the rear of the defense machine and why reforms by the team of former minister Mykhailo Fedorov and the head of the Defense Procurement Agency, Arsen Zhumadilov, led to a paralysis of supplies.

Zero contracts for armored vehicles and a shell shortage

The situation in the defense sector resembles a chronicle of looming disaster. Since the beginning of the year, the relevant Defense Procurement Agency (DPA), headed by Arsen Zhumadilov, has not signed a single new agreement to supply armored vehicles for our brigades. Fighters at the front are operating on leftover equipment from past years, while manufacturers are sounding the alarm.

For example, the Kharkiv Design Bureau named after Morozov, which manufactures the BTR “Buccaephalus,” has already warned that without new orders it may have to stop paying wages to people in the fall. A similar situation has developed with ammunition. Representatives of the company Ukrainska Bronetechnika publicly stated: despite an approved budget and priority from the General Staff, as of the end of April the DPA had not signed any contracts for long-range 155-mm rounds.