Lechmar owes ₴26.6 billion: expert Zgurets blasts controversial ammo deal for Ukrainian military

He stated this on the Espreso TV channel.

“At this point, we need to draw conclusions about the procurement and supply of weapons funded by the state, because it seems that we are systematically stepping on the same rake we’ve already encountered many times. Some may have forgotten the story I wrote about last year, when in November 2024, the Defense Ministry allocated 23 billion UAH from its budget to the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) for the purchase of ammunition for the Armed Forces through a Polish intermediary, the company Lechmar.

At that time, the leadership of the Defense Ministry and the SBGS actively justified this unusual transfer of funds as an urgent measure to supply ammunition to the frontlines, allegedly due to the availability of these munitions with the intermediary, the Polish company Lechmar.

This included, among other things, scarce Soviet-era 122mm ammunition and new 155mm shells. I wrote that the negative consequences of this deal for national interests were almost guaranteed. Why? What was strange back then? For instance, the demand for 100% prepayment alongside promises of rapid delivery of large quantities of new ammunition.

‘Rapid’ delivery, of course, comes at a higher price. Other details also raised questions. However, at the time, there were many denials from the leadership of the SBGS and Lechmar, who claimed that everything was within legal boundaries and that the Polish company had been reliably supplying the Border Guard for ten years. In other words, it was a long-standing partner, and everything was proceeding according to plan with these deliveries for which the 23 billion UAH had been reallocated from the Defense Ministry budget,” Zgurets explained.

According to the director of Defense Express, in January of this year, Lechmar announced that a military commission had already inspected the goods under the contract with the SBGS, and that the shipment was being prepared for delivery to Ukraine. Ukrainian media reported on this announcement in January. It seemed the company was indeed fulfilling its obligations. But the bombshell is this: the SBGS responded to a formal inquiry from Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak. He submitted this request to the SBGS on March 10. The inquiry concerned the execution of delegated powers to carry out defense procurement from the Ministry of Defense in the amount of 23 billion UAH at the end of 2024.

“In the response, it was stated that Lechmar owes the SBGS over 26 billion UAH — more precisely, 26.6 billion. This includes overdue receivables amounting to nearly 1.7 billion UAH due to missed delivery deadlines. If the total debt even exceeds the original 23 billion UAH, then most likely the promised ammunition deliveries and additional orders were simply not fulfilled.

And now the question arises: what justification will Lechmar offer for its debts to the SBGS? More importantly, what explanations will be provided by the officials who emphasized the urgency of supplying ammunition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and insisted on 100% prepayment for large-scale procurement? By the way, the response to the inquiry noted that the SBGS administration is carrying out systematic work to reduce the volume of outstanding budget liabilities.

So, this is the interim result of this deal. And I believe it’s something that deserves attention, primarily from the President in his response — because it’s not just about delayed ammunition deliveries, but also about lost territory and the lives of our soldiers due to a lack of mines and shells, as a result of undelivered supplies.

All those involved in these dealings must be held accountable, including the mentioned ministries and responsible officials. And this is the story of these expensive shells, which we will likely continue to detail in our future publications on this explosive topic,” Zgurets emphasized.

• Defense Express CEO Serhiy Zgurets noted that on November 29, the Cabinet of Ministers issued an order to allocate 23 billion UAH to the SBGS for the purchase of ammunition for the Armed Forces, bypassing the Defense Ministry’s Defense Procurement Agency.
• He also noted that the SBGS did respond regarding the procurement, but provided no explanations.