Military commander arrested over deficient uniform contracts
Source: Office of the Prosecutor General
The commander of a military unit in Dnipropetrovsk is facing charges over the contract worth 200 million hryvnias that got Ukrainian troops low-quality military uniforms.
Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) found that the suspect signed off on a deal with a shady middleman who got a 30% advance payment in a clear breach of bidding procedures.
The military unit later received only a portion of decent-quality uniforms, while the remaining ₴150 million worth of gear soon proved to be substandard, failing to meet any safety standards—putting soldiers at risk. Despite these glaring issues, the unit’s leadership still signed off on all the paperwork and paid the full amount for the faulty goods.
Raids at the suspects’ homes and offices turned up a cash haul, including $20,700, €7,100, and ₴231,000, along with mobile phones, notebooks, and incriminating documents.
Now, the commander faces up to 8 years behind bars, while his business partner could be looking at a hefty 12-year sentence.
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In my previous column, I wrote about social innovations in Ukraine. Those innovations are part of civic resilience and the democratization of security, which Europe is paying close attention to right now. The EU is trying to work out how to spread responsibility for its own security across society as a whole, rather than leaving it to institutions alone. It is looking for concrete ways to bring ordinary people into the work of defense and resistance.
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