Unpublished audits obtained by The New York Times show Ukraine ignored red flags in defense procurement as the country lost at least $1.2 billion to fraud, waste, and mismanagement in 2024 alone

The New York Times (1 and 2) obtained previously unpublished audits of the Ukrainian government’s military weapons procurement in 2024 and 2025. Ukraine’s State Audit Service and the Defense Ministry’s internal audit unit reviewed the work of the Defense Procurement Agency. Among other findings, the audits showed that Ukraine lost about $1.2 billion in 2024 alone to fraud, waste, and mismanagement in defense procurement. Here’s what else the documents revealed.According to the audit documents, Ukrainian authorities ignore red flags in weapons procurement. Contractors that inflate prices or fail to meet delivery obligations rarely face consequences.Companies received contracts without demonstrating that they could deliver the weapons. In some cases, contractors did not even have licenses to deliver them.Seven of Ukraine’s 10 largest military contractors received new orders despite open criminal investigations into fraud or failures to fulfill previous contracts, or the arrests of executives on corruption charges.In 2024, for example, the Pavlohrad Chemical Plant supplied the military with thousands of defective mortar rounds. The Defense Procurement Agency continued to award the company contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars even after its director, Leonid Shyman, was implicated in a corruption case.Auditors identified 18 companies that received new contracts from Ukrainian authorities despite failing to fulfill earlier agreements. Six had not fulfilled a single contract.One company failed to deliver any of the 600 specialized drones it had promised. It then received a new contract for 1,950 more drones but delivered only 50 on time.About $126 million was lost because authorities rejected better offers and overpaid for weapons. Contracts were also awarded without sufficient legal justification. In one case, companies remain locked in a dispute over what happened to at least $100 million in advance payments on a deal that ultimately fell through.Military contractors around the world — including the world’s largest arms dealer, as well as Ukrainian and American companies — profited from the system, while Ukraine lost about $1.2 billion to corruption and inefficient procurement.It is unclear whether the Defense Procurement Agency took any action in response to the audit findings, which were classified and never subjected to public scrutiny. Arsen Zhumadilov, the agency’s director, declined to comment. He resigned on August 31.Former Defense Procurement Agency adviser Tamerlan Vahabov told The New York Times that the army is not getting what it needs and that failed deliveries and overpayments shrink the budget, leaving too little money to order more weapons and too little ammunition. He called it “a recurring pattern.”“Anything that isn’t nailed down in Ukraine will be stolen,” said James Wasserstrom, an American anti-corruption expert. “This has been a longstanding tradition.”At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.