Scandal in Ukrainian Ministry of Defense: procurement department director Khmelnytskyi, is fired

Head of Verkhovna Rada anti-corruption committee of Verkhovna Rada, Anastasia Radina stated this.

"Director of procurement department of Ukrainian Defense Ministry Khmelnytskyi, and relevant deputy minister, Shapovalov, have been dismissed," Deputy wrote on Facebook.

She also claimed that Oleksii Reznikov, Minister of Defense, "has no legal claims against the author of journalistic investigation."

"Prices in contracts that have not yet entered into force and are undergoing examinations are different for different suppliers, but some prices really differ from market prices in a bad way. The Ministry explains this by components of food services, in particular, transport services and "allowance" for inflation. Checking such pricing is impossible within the framework of committee meetings, therefore we will check further," Anastasia Radina added.

• Information that the Ministry of Defense purchases products for the military at prices significantly higher than in retail chains in Kyiv was published on January 21 by Dzerkalo Tyzhnya publication with reference to the agreement of the Defense Ministry on purchase of products.

• Ukraine's Ministry of Defense called accusations of purchasing products for the army at inflated prices as signs of deliberate manipulation.

• The National Anti-Corruption Bureau said that the bureau was aware of possible abuses by the Ministry of Defense in purchasing products for the military even before publications in mass media. Investigation is ongoing.

• At a meeting on January 24, the Cabinet of Ministers made a personnel decision to dismiss Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who had previously submitted his resignation.