Ministry of Defense of Ukraine accused of overpaying for army flasks
On Tuesday, NGL.media published an investigation that revealed the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine purchased plastic flasks for the Armed Forces at a price three times higher than the market price. In 2024, over 54 million hryvnias were spent on buying 153 thousand army flasks from China, with each flask costing 355-354 hryvnias compared to 154 hryvnias for a similar flask of NATO standard on alibaba.com.
Challenges faced in purchasing cheaper flasks
The following day, «State Logistics Operator» (DОТ) reported that they were unable to purchase cheaper flasks due to a lack of a relevant document from the Ministry of Defense management responsible for the material support of the Armed Forces, as noted by «Ukrainska Pravda». The Ukrainian manufacturer who won the tenders twice had their results canceled as the GURSMZ did not confirm compliance with technical specifications.
Questionable practices in tender process
The investigation also revealed that companies «Coltrain» and «Superform», lacking their own production capacities, were awarded orders worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias for purchasing Chinese flasks. These companies, with delivery times of 19 days from contract signing, raised doubts about the legality of the process. «Coltrain» and «Superform» earned up to 24 million and 11 million hryvnias respectively in tenders, with a total margin of about 200%
.
