The Ministry of Defense bought Chinese flasks for the Armed Forces three times more expensive than market prices: investigation
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine spent over 54 million hryvnias on the purchase of 153,000 plastic flasks for the Armed Forces from China. The price of one flask was 355 hryvnias, which is three times higher than the market value of similar products.
About this it is said in the NGL.media investigation.
Details of the investigation
Identical American-style flasks are freely sold in Ukraine for 120 hryvnias, and analogues can be found even for 72 hryvnias. Flasks purchased by the Ministry of Defense are manufactured in China by Taizhou Huangyan Sigg Mold Co., Ltd.
On the Alibaba.com marketplace, the same flask costs 154 hryvnias, and without inscriptions – 100 hryvnias. Purchases were made through the companies “Coltrane” and “Superform”, which do not have their own production and order flasks from the same Chinese manufacturer.
According to journalists’ estimates, these companies will earn from 12 to 15 million hryvnias on the contract. The terms of delivery of the flasks are disrupted. According to preliminary estimates, it will take at least 4.5 months to produce and deliver 100,000 bottles from China. Both companies, “Coltrane” and “Superform”, have been operating recently, and their owners raise questions from journalists.
Other purchases
The National Guard orders American-style flasks for 198 hryvnias each. Border guards last year bought flasks at prices close to those paid by the Ministry of Defense.
The state enterprise “State rear operator” (DOT), which made purchases, tried four times to purchase flasks for the Armed Forces in 2024.
The first two purchases were cancelled. Subsequently, DOT entered into a direct agreement with Coltrane LLC, and the total value of the agreement almost doubled.
DOT representatives explained their decision by the urgent need for flasks and the fact that the price offered by “Coltrane” was lower than that of other companies.
This is not the first scandal related to procurement for the Armed Forces. Previously, the media reported on the inflated prices of food for the military.
