Defense Express comments regarding UAH 23 billion arms procurement via State Border Guard Service

Kyrychevskyi shared his thoughts on Espreso TV.

"Here's the issue: if this kind of information has to be made public, it means there’s been no response from the authorities until now, and so the matter has to be 'pushed' into the public spotlight. That’s the problem. It's also surprising that the State Border Guard Service has almost no heavy artillery of its own. For instance, they’ve been using old Soviet BS-3 guns of 100mm caliber, sourced from unclear origins. They also have small Croatian RAK-SA-12 rocket systems with a non-standard 128mm caliber," the expert said.

Ivan Kyrychevskyi pointed out that the UAH 23 billion allocated is equivalent to 1% of Ukraine's defense budget, which was given to one company.

"Especially if it's UAH 23 billion, I can't immediately calculate exactly what part of the defense budget that is, but it could be around 1%. This means that 1% of our defense budget in hryvnias was given to one company, and there are some specific issues involved. This should be handled by the relevant authorities, and if they are already working on it, it would be good for them to step into the public eye and explain what’s going on. 

On the other hand, it turns out we’re introducing various fiscal initiatives to formally increase defense funding, but these measures also seem to be causing more issues with targeted spending. This shouldn't be happening. Since we haven't yet received a proper response, we need to continue talking about it publicly, using every possible means to make sure the right message is heard," he said.

• On December 2, Serhiy Zgurets, Defense Express CEO and military expert, said that the Cabinet of Ministers had issued an order on November 29 to allocate UAH 23 billion to the State Border Guard Service for purchasing ammunition for the Armed Forces, bypassing the Defense Procurement Agency of the Ministry of Defense.