According to Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine “On Defense Procurement,” government procuring entities may acquire goods, works, and services through one of the following procurement methods: closed procurement (negotiations and phased negotiations). Closed procurement is conducted by government procuring entities in accordance with the procedures and on the terms set forth in Article 18 of this Law.

In particular, Article 18 of the aforementioned Law provides that the procurement of goods, works and services for defense purposes that constitute a state secret shall be carried out through closed procurement procedures in accordance with this Law, taking into account the provisions of the law governing the protection of state secrets.

Measures related to the planning, formation, placement and execution of defense procurements that constitute state secretі are also carried out in compliance with the requirements of the legislation on state secrets (Article 35).

In accordance with the law, decisions to classify specific (detailed) information in the sphere of state activity as state secrets, on the basis of which the Compendium of Information Constituting State Secrets (approved by Order No. 383 of the Central Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine dated December 23, 2020, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on January 14, 2021 under No. 52/35674, and published in the official publications of Ukraine, hereinafter referred to as the “ZVDT”), are adopted by authorized officials of state bodies – state experts on matters of state secrets – in compliance with the requirements of Article 8 of the Law of Ukraine “On State Secrets” (hereinafter referred to as the “Law”) and Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information.”

In accordance with Article 12 of the Law, the Security Service of Ukraine registers these decisions and, based on them, drafts the corresponding provisions of the ZVDT (amendments thereto).

According to Article 8 of the Law, information regarding the fact and subject matter of the procurement of defense-related goods, works, and services to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations (law enforcement agencies), as well as information regarding the conduct of restricted procurements in accordance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Defense Procurement” (hereinafter referred to as “procurement”) may constitute a state secret.

For example, state secrets include information – based on the aggregate of all indicators -regarding the names and quantities of weapons (military equipment, ammunition, specialized components, spare parts, and related materials), their cost, delivery dates (timeframes), the performance of work, and the provision of services for their restoration (repair), and place of delivery – as contained in individual agreements (contracts) concluded for the needs of military units (law enforcement agencies, the State Special Communications Service) when they operate under a legal regime of martial law or a special period (Article 1.4.14 of the ZVDT).

In order to increase the level of accountability among officials and improve regulatory and legal acts governing the classification of information related to state defense procurement, the Security Service of Ukraine initiated amendments in 2020 to Article 15 of the Law and to the Procedure for Organizing and Ensuring the Classification Regime in State Bodies, Local Self-Government Bodies, enterprises, institutions, and organizations (approved by Government Resolution No. 939 of December 18, 2013, as amended by Resolution No. 615 of June 16, 2023), which stipulate that the need to classify goods, works, and services procured in the interests of ensuring national security and defense must be determined by a separate document – an opinion from a state expert on state secrets, which confirms that the procurement information complies with the requirements of the ZVDT and assesses the harm to Ukraine’s national security in the event of a leak of such information.

This lays the groundwork for preventing the unjustified assignment of classification levels by the direct implementers who enter into contracts and carry out procurements, and also introduces an additional mechanism for oversight by the leadership of the relevant government agencies, who serve as state experts, to oversee the implementation of relevant measures aimed at preventing the circumvention of public competitive procedures and the resulting creation of corruption risks.

Thus, the procedures for protecting classified information during the procurement of defense-related goods, works, and services – unlike those for official or confidential information – are currently the most thoroughly regulated. It provides for the comprehensive involvement at all stages of this process of specialists possessing the appropriate level of knowledge, skills, and expertise in a specific field (members of the expert commission under the State Expert on Secrets), as well as the State Expert on Secrets himself, as the official authorized to classify information as a state secret in the fields of defense, the economy, science and technology, foreign relations, national security, and law enforcement – to classify such information as a state secret, change its classification level, or declassify it, on the one hand; and the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) – regarding the compliance of the adopted decision, in both form and content, with the requirements of the law and its subsequent registration, on the other hand.

In particular, for the period of the legal regime of martial law, the Government of Ukraine has determined the features of defense procurement (approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 11.12.2022 No. 1275, hereinafter referred to as the Features of Procurement), which provide that without applying the types (procedures) of procurement determined by the Laws of Ukraine “On Defense Procurement” and “On Public Procurement”, not only procurement of goods, works and services for defense purposes that constitute a state secret, but also procurement of weapons, military and special equipment, missiles and ammunition and their components, services for the development, repair, modernization of weapons, military and special equipment, ammunition and their components, and goods, works and services for the construction of military engineering and fortification structures are carried out.

Moreover, the procedure for conducting such closed procurements and the procedure for concluding state contracts (agreements) is determined by the state customer in the field of defense (clause 43).

Also, on January 3, 2026, Resolution No. 1801 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated December 26, 2025, “On Amendments to the Specifics of Defense Procurement for the Duration of the Legal Regime of Martial Law,” entered into force. Among other things, this resolution amends paragraph 43 of the Features of Procurement, specifically regarding the procurement by government contracting authorities of defense-related goods, works, and services that constitute state secrets, taking into account the conclusion of the state expert on secrets regarding the classification level of the defense-related goods, works, and services being procured.

At the same time, the procurement of defense-related goods, works, and services that constitute state secrets and are intended for the implementation of state-level programs aimed at reforming and developing the defense-industrial complex, developing missile weapons, and establishing a missile defense system – in particular, with regard to the development and implementation of new technologies, the creation of new and the expansion (modernization, repair, reconstruction, expansion, and retrofitting) of existing production capacities for the manufacture of defense-related goods, shall be carried out in accordance with the requirements of this paragraph and paragraphs 44, 45, and 47–49 of the Features of Procurement.

At the same time, taking into account the recommendations of foreign partners made during the Strategic Review of the Defense Procurement System, the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, together with other state institutions – including the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) – has begun work on developing a strategy to reform the defense procurement system. The work in the working groups is led by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Resolution No. 363 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 3, 2021, has been designated as the lead agency in the field of planning and implementing defense procurement.

The SSU supports the chosen strategy for reforming the defense procurement system, drawing on the best practices of EU and NATO countries, and, as the state agency specifically authorized to safeguard state secrets, continuously takes measures aimed at implementing the state strategy to ensure transparency in all possible aspects of defense procurement, namely, preventing the use of classification mechanisms to circumvent public competitive procedures and thereby create risks of corruption.

Please report any suggestions for optimizing the content of current laws and regulations regarding the classification of defense procurement, as well as any identified violations in this area, to the following email address: callcenter@ssu.gov.ua .