MOU led by Rustem Umyerov had a year without corruption scandals, but also without outstanding achievements: Oleksandr Sayenko

In the position of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, there is always a huge responsibility, especially in the conditions of war. When Rustem Umyerov became the new head of the Ministry of Defense on September 6, 2023, he faced numerous challenges, including corruption scandals, reforming the defense sector, and improving the efficiency of the army support system. After several months of his leadership, the question arises: what changes have already taken place and how effectively has the minister coped with the assigned tasks?

Military expert-analyst of NAKO (Independent Anti-Corruption Commission), military attache in France (2011-2012), colonel, brigade commander (2022-2023) Oleksandr Sayenko analyzed the key directions of Rustem Umyerov’s work and made preliminary conclusions about the effectiveness of his actions.

According to Oleksandr Sayenko, Rustem Umyerov inherited a difficult legacy – corruption scandals that undermined trust in the Defense Ministry. From stories about Turkish jackets to the famous eggs for 17 hryvnias, these cases became the reason for an active propaganda campaign by Russia, which sought to prove that Ukraine “did not deserve to be part of NATO.” This created pressure on the president and put him in front of the need for drastic changes in the security sector.

“Increasing the defense capacity of the Ukrainian manufacturer. That is, everything that can be produced in Ukraine must be produced in Ukraine. Here, the situation is not simple: from the good side, more than 80 percent of rear-end purchases and 70 percent of weapons purchases are now provided by Ukrainian companies. And Ukrainian manufacturers have already mastered the full cycle of repairing Western armored vehicles and received the appropriate licenses (Bradley infantry fighting vehicles can already be fully restored in Ukraine). On the bad side, Ukrainian companies are acutely short of finances and materials: some manufacturers make shells from raw materials collected at the front. There is no money for the ballistic program announced by the president.

Another task in the context of armaments is the acquisition of F-16s and the preparation of infrastructure. Yes, we started receiving planes. However, whether we have modernized them, whether the infrastructure is fully ready, whether work is ongoing to attract pilots (in particular, retired ones from the USA) – these questions remain unanswered at the moment.

Software. Volunteers who have been working in Ukraine since the beginning of the great war still provide the army with many things. However, it can be stated unequivocally: the military has a uniform, as well as all the necessary equipment. The issue of uniforms for women and anatomical vests is not closed. It was violated back in 2021-2022, but it has moved from its place only now. The food system is fixed, but local scandals are breaking out – such as, for example, with the supply of low-quality fresh meat for the Armed Forces. However, these are point problems of individual parts due to the carelessness of the nachprods or on-site equipment. Strategic planning is problematic, but it depends a lot on the state’s financial capabilities.” – says Sayenko.

The military analyst also attributed the progress in creating a single medical space between the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Health to the positive aspects of the work of Umerov and the Ministry. In particular, wounded soldiers have the opportunity to receive treatment not only in military hospitals, but also in civilian medical institutions. Hospitals of the National Guard and the National Police are involved in the process. An important achievement is the organization of information and documentation exchange between various institutions involved in the treatment and rehabilitation of the wounded. However, a full-fledged unified medical space has not yet been created, because this requires the integration of an electronic health care system that would unite civilian and military institutions, and this issue remains a task for the future.

As for digitization, according to the military analyst, progress has been made under Umerov’s leadership in reducing bureaucratic obstacles and simplifying many processes in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Such applications as “Army+” and “Reserve+” have already appeared, which make the work easier. Although the process is complex and takes time, the progress is tangible if you remember how difficult and critical the “Action” was developed.

Sayenko also noted that during the “year of Umerov” there were no high-profile corruption scandals related to the leadership of the Ministry of Defense. Problems mostly arose at lower levels — it concerned individuals or manufacturers, such as Tetyana Glynyana, a food supplier for the Armed Forces, or Lviv Arsenal, which failed to fulfill a contract for the supply of mines worth 1.4 billion hryvnias. Also during this time, new state agencies responsible for procurement for the army became operational: the State Rear Operator (DOT) and the Defense Procurement Agency (AAZ), as well as the activity of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defense.

However, in this case, Sayenko noted several problematic aspects. In particular, the State Rear Operator (DOT) and the Defense Procurement Agency (AOD) still do not have supervisory boards that could exercise public control over their activities. The issue of the need to create such supervisory bodies has been repeatedly raised by our NATO partners. They emphasized the importance of this issue, in particular, in their recommendations presented during the Strategic Review of the Defense Procurement System of Ukraine at the summit in Washington in July. In addition, the process of re-election of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defense, whose mandate ended in April, has already dragged on for half a year, which also creates certain difficulties.

At the same time, the military analyst focused on the negative aspects of Umerov’s work:

“The system of military justice (military police, military prosecutor’s office, military courts), the creation of which Umerov announced as his task a year ago, has not been created. The minister himself, at least in the public field, did not initiate its discussion. Instead, it is proposed to create an exclusively military police force without pre-trial investigation. And this, in my opinion, will not solve the problem, but will only deepen it.

And, perhaps, one of the most difficult and important tasks of the minister, which was not fully implemented, is to strengthen the work with the international coalition in order to bring heavy weapons to Ukraine more quickly. With joint efforts, including the government, it was possible to unblock aid from the United States of America, but it was a rather difficult process.

However, the unblocked aid is not enough for us to reach at least parity with the capabilities of the armed forces of the Russian aggressor. Above all, we need shells and any means by which Ukraine can effectively wage a defensive struggle. Yes, if we compare with the beginning of the year, there is significant progress: then the ratio of the number of shells was 1 to 7 not in our favor. Now it’s about 1 to 3.

In general, the work on receiving and implementing foreign financial aid in the Ministry of Education and Culture is not sufficiently efficient. For example, the ministry had to send a request to our partners from the USA with a justification of what exactly we need in terms of armaments. This is quite a significant delay, and the risk that we will not be able to submit this application by the allotted time increases every day.

A number of defense agreements were signed with the EU, but they did not become a real breakthrough or a mechanism that would increase international aid.

Rustem Umerov has problems not only in external, but also in internal communications. He had “carte blanche” to completely update the team and hired new people, in particular as deputies. However, cooperation within the team is poorly established – currently everything is “closed” to the minister. Often he himself tries to solve cases that his deputies do not even know about. Therefore, Umerov should delegate more, establish a system in the ministry’s work, organize effective communication between subordinates from different levels, provide comprehensive support to the team.”