State found overpaying 600 million for drones- reports
Source: Hromadske
The bombshell findings by Hromadske show that Ukraine’s government allegedly overpaid at least 593 million hryvnias on the state contracts that provided the Ukrainian army with Autel EVO MAX 4T drones through the “Army of Drones” project.
The Krion-M company that earlier dealt in furniture reportedly sold drones to the Ukrainian government at inflated prices, double the market rate, ranging from 360,000 to nearly 500,000 hryvnias whiles similar drones were procured through Prytula Foundation for 212,000 hryvnias a piece.
“Krion-M” has sold around 3,900 drones to the state for approximately 1.5 billion hryvnias. The drones were procured through Poland’s UMO and Germany’s Danator companies owned by Ukrainian former official Serhiy Velichuk. He argued the higher pricing by claiming the drones had “special software,” although experts later found no proof for that.
The shade procurement can raise many uncomfortable questions for the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the State Special Communications Service. Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov admitted poor oversight in 2023, though insisted his ministry red-flagged the situation and referred findings to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) while Yuriy Shchyhol, who led the State Special Communications Service at the time, now denies involvement.
NABU has launched a criminal investigation, though no charges have been filed to date.
To commemorate the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion, “Bukvy” has compiled data on the largest donors supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Among them there are charitable foundations and businesses. The list includes, in particular, foundations that provide assistance exclusively from their own resources, without fundraising (such as SCM by Rinat Akhmetov, Epicenter, etc.).
In just 1.5 months, Ukrainian specialists have created an innovative protective shell for the control modules of anti-aircraft missile systems (AMS) Patriot and Iris-T SLM. This development was another step in strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities, aimed at protecting key elements of the air defense system from debris damage.
Military serviceman of the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine with the call sign “Paradox” is the crew commander of the American M113 armored personnel carrier. He is a master at using it and is constantly improving, because the legionnaire’s skills are tested every day in battle. You have to drive to the front lines, often under artillery fire and drone attacks.
Notorious supporter of the concept “in order for a cow to eat less and give more milk, it needs to be fed less and milked more” “Servant of the People” Danylo Hetmantsev, under the guise of “business requirements”, registered a draft law on the collection of VAT on all foreign purchases, regardless of their value. In other words, every Ukrainian, buying goods of any value and purpose abroad, when sending them to Ukraine, will have to pay an additional fifth part, or 20% of the cost of the goods.
Source: UJCU A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a facade of a synagogue in Mykolaiv…