The distribution between the Ukrainian Minister of Defense and the official responsible for the provision of weapons was threatened with escalating on Monday and disagreed in the government in a critical period because he was trying to persuade President Trump to maintain the US support against Russia.
The dispute broke three days ago when Minister Rustus Umerov stated that he would not renew Maryna Bezruková, the head of the defense agency and quotes “unsatisfactory” results. On Monday, however, Mrs. Bezrukova said she would remain in her position and emphasize that her contract was renewed by the Agency’s Supervisory Board and that Mr Ukerov had no right to suppress this decision.
The agency was established to ensure transparency and efficiency in obtaining weapons. Activists and some legislators, including prominent in the President Volodymyr Zlensky, sentenced Mr. Ukerov as abuse of power undergoing anti -corruption efforts.
“The Minister’s action is a serious crime against our legislation and administration and management of companies,” Mrs. Bezrukova said in an interview at the weekend and called it an “attack” on the agency’s efforts intermediary Ukraine has ever relied on the purchase of weapons during the war.
On Monday she reported to her office and it was not clear how the postponement would be resolved.
The dispute threatens to weaken an organization that managed over $ 7 billion last year for arms commissioning, and became a partner of Western allies who directed funds to the growing defense industry of Ukraine – the new Kiev initiative is to develop as an alternative for the diminishing weapons from the West.
Western diplomats in Kiev met with government and agencies on Monday to discuss the situation of public procurement, according to several participants who spoke anonymously about private negotiations. Meanwhile, the head of the anti -corruption committee of the Ukrainian Parliament has called for Mr. Ukerov’s resignation.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not respond to the request for comment. It seems unlikely that Mr Umerov resigns, because Mr Zelezky has not yet offered any criticism.
This is not the first time the Ukrainian government has moved exclude officials with liability for reform of state institutionswhose efforts have caused internal friction. For example, last year, Oleksanddr Kubrakov was released as Minister of Infrastructure for reasons that have never been clear.
However, an attempt to dismiss Mrs. Bezruk comes when Ukraine tries to send enough weapons to his soldiers on the queue and face the risk of losing vital supplies of weapons from his key ally, the United States.
Activists are also afraid that he is sending the wrong message to Western partners, especially the US Republicans who have long expressed concern about corruption in Ukraine. “What Minister UMEROV is doing is to sabotage our defensive skills and our ability to maintain the confidence of our international partners about the purchase of weapons,” said Daria Kaleniuk, Executive Director of the anti -corruption center of Ukraine.
Said Mr Umerov in Facebook post The fact that the agency failed in “timely delivery of ammunition to our army” and instead involved “political games, leaks of contracts and information leaks”. He did not provide specific examples.
Tamerlan Vahabov, former advisor to Mrs. Bezruková, who resigned last year, also criticized the agency and stated that she sometimes could not effectively assess contracts. He claimed that the agency had leaned too much to buy from state -owned companies instead of direct acquisition of private suppliers.
Mrs. Bezrukova was appointed a year ago at the head of the defense agency after Mr. Umerov took over as Minister of Defense. Promised to make corruption at the Ministry after a series of apparitions Poorly managed contracts for weapons and basic needs such as food.
The main task of Mrs. Bezruková, who is a former manager of national electric society, was to remove intermediaries – often – often – often Shady weapons dealers who were inflating prices. She said the agency had a reduced proportion of intermediaries Assignment of orders from 81 percent in 2023 to only 12 percent last year. These numbers could not be independently verified.
Mrs. Bezrukova said her work led to tension with the Ministry. She claimed that defense officials were pushing her to sign a contract with a state factory for Ukrainian weapons that lacked workers and gunpowder to produce mortar shells. After being made and sent to the front, many shells could not shoot, Creating the main scandal in Ukraine.
The Ministry of Defense acknowledged that more than 20,000 shells were withdrawn. But others believed that the character was much higher.
Mr. Vahabov said that although he faced pressure, Mrs. Bezrukova was supposed to be more loud in the counter -contract. He also stated that it could carry out more controls of proper weapons production in the factory. He argued that there were many “normative and administrative questions” with the structure of the agency that prevented the work of awarding public procurement.
Mrs. Bezrukova said she hoped to create a supervisory board in the agency at the end of last year, move applauds Western partners would help protect its independence. “I don’t want to be a window dressing or a washing machine for a reputation,” she said in an interview on Saturday.
The day before the first meeting of the Board of Directors, however, on December 17, the Ministry of Defense changed the Charter of the Agency and effectively granted the Ministry of Final powers before most of the decision of the board. “They de facto sterilized the authority of the board,” said Yuriy Dzhygyr, Chairman of the Board of Directors and former representative Mr. Ukerov.
After the Supervisory Board voted last week to extend Mrs. Bezruková for one year, Mr. Ukerov stated that she would not renew her contract and announced the release of two prosecutors on the board, including Mr. Dzhygyr.
Mrs. Kaleniuk, an anti -corruption activist, said the Charter does not provide the Ministry of Defense in the expansion of the Agency Head of Agreement. However, the Charter, which was reviewed by The New York Times, allows the Ministry of Defense to reject any official of the agency “in the case of identified existing or potential threats for the National Security of Ukraine”.
It remains unclear what legal reasons Mr. Ukerov decided to shoot Mrs. Bezrukova.
With western partners, especially EuropeanThe agency that could not deliver all the needs of Ukraine’s weapons helped accept an initiative that uses Western funds to pay contracts signed by local weapons manufacturers. The Ministry of Defense said weapons worth more than half a billion dollars were made Through this new mechanism last year.
Whether this new mechanism will continue to work because the current distance is unclear.
“This is the worst possible time when Kiev returns hours back to a successful defense story: when Ukraine needs further funding of weapons and cynical opponents in Moscow and in some neighborhoods of Washington looking for reasons to question integrity. Ukrainian Defense Administration, ”German Marshall Fund of the United States, Research Institutions, said.
Andrew E. Kramer The report contributed.