The SSU Military Counterintelligence has exposed a corruption scheme that led to disruption of a state order for production of a large batch of ammunition for the Armed Forces just before russia’s full-scale invasion.

The case pertains to the execution of a defence contract for artillery mines supplied to the Ukrainian army for a total of almost UAH 270 mln (USD 7 mln).

According to the investigation, heads of three private companies, which received an order from the Ministry of Defence for production of this type of ammunition, are involved in the fraud.

According to the signed contracts, the entrepreneurs were to ship the munitions by February 2022.

However, by this time, the companies had delivered to the MoD only part of the ordered mines, which were also defective due to low-quality powder.

This technical defect makes it impossible to use the ammunition in combat conditions and leads to a failure of the artillery itself.

This fact was exposed by defence experts during testing of the artillery mines received.

After that, the defective batch of munitions was returned to the manufacturing companies to correct the identified deficiencies.

However, the companies have not yet eliminated the technical malfunctions and, as a result, have not supplied any ammunition to Ukrainian defenders under the state order.

Based on the evidence collected, two company executives have been notified of suspicion under Article 190.4 of the CCU (large-scale fraud).

The investigation is ongoing to bring to justice everyone involved. The offenders are facing up to 8 years in prison.

The operation was carried out jointly with the National Police under the procedural supervision of Kyiv Specialized Defence Prosecutor’s Office.