Law enforcement officers have stopped the activities of a criminal organization that seized almost 3 billion hryvnias of state funds allocated for the purchase of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines for the Ukrainian military.
According to data of the State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor General’s Office, one of the supplier companies concluded five large contracts with the Department of Military-Technical Policy of the Ministry of Defense, the Defense Procurement Agency, and the Logistics Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a total amount of over 10 billion hryvnias. These contracts were to supply over 360,000 sets of mines of various types, but the supplies were of poor quality or not made at all, and state funds were not returned.
The investigation established that the organization’s members created a fictitious picture of the ability to produce ammunition, using an enterprise that had not previously been engaged in the production of mines. They artificially inflated the company’s financial indicators, prepared technical and design documentation with false data on the detonators, the weight of explosives and the composition of materials, as well as the allegedly conducted tests. These critical shortcomings remained unnoticed by military officials who coordinated the documents and concluded contracts.
As a result, five state contracts provided for advance payments of over 2.9 billion hryvnias. The supplied mines were unusable: they did not work or did not have the declared damaging properties. Part of the funds was directed to third parties, the purchase of equipment, deposits and other transactions with signs of legalization of proceeds from crime.
On January 8, 2026, the State Bureau of Investigation conducted a series of searches and detained four members of a criminal organization, including its organizer and heads of departments. They were reported on suspicion of embezzlement of funds in large amounts, legalization of property obtained by crime, and creation and participation in a criminal organization. Another participant is being sought.
In addition, suspicions have been declared against four military employees of the Ministry of Defense for deliberate failure to perform their duties, which caused serious consequences for the defense capability of the state, as well as against an official of a state enterprise who allowed the manufacture of mines with explosives of inadequate quality.
Currently, petitions are being prepared for the court to choose preventive measures. The Prosecutor General’s Office insists on detention with the alternative of bail from 100 to 500 million hryvnias.
