FT: Ukraine transferred $770m to foreign suppliers for arms not received

During the years of full-scale war, Ukraine has transferred at least 770m dollars to foreign suppliers for weapons that never arrived in the country. This was reported by the Financial Times, citing documents of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry and internal materials at the disposal of the publication.

According to the investigation, during the three years of hostilities, the Ukrainian side paid significant advances to foreign intermediary firms, but some of these contracts were not fulfilled. One of the most striking examples is the story of 28-year-old American Tanner Cook from Arizona, the owner of a small gun shop in the suburbs of Tucson.

According to the FT, his company OTL in 2022 signed a contract with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence to supply ammunition worth 49 million euros. Ukraine transferred 17.1 million euros as an advance payment, but the shells were never delivered. Despite the fact that the Ukrainian side won an arbitration case in Vienna, the funds have not been returned yet.

The newspaper also stressed that the situation was complicated by internal investigations into possible corruption in defence procurement. We are talking about dozens of suspicious contracts. Several officials have already been suspended from their posts, and formal charges have been brought in a number of cases.

Earlier, the head of the Ukrainian intelligence agency, Kyrylo Budanov, said that over 40 per cent of the Ukrainian army's armaments were domestically produced and corresponded to the level of foreign analogues.