The head of the Ministry of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, commenting on the information that appeared in the mass media about abuses in the procurement of products for the Armed Forces, said that this is not the first time that an "information attack" has taken place on the Ministry of Defense under a fictitious pretext. I have it on my page Facebook the minister commented on the situation in detail.
"This situation is very similar to last year, when we dealt with a monopolist. Something similar happened in the fall, when a number of assets critically important for defense capability were transferred to the ministry. We were attacked for absolutely no reason in the summer when rumors about insufficient arms control were being spread. That is, nothing new"Reznikov said.
According to Reznikov, in 2023, tens of billions of hryvnias will be sent to feed the Ukrainian military. So far, the Ministry of Defense has concluded contracts with 8 suppliers.
"According to the contract, a certain number of military units is assigned to each of the suppliers. The contracts stipulate a rule: if one of the suppliers is unable to fulfill its obligations, the others "pick up" the military units according to a certain algorithm. The supply of products everywhere will be guaranteed to be uninterrupted so that does not happen." - said Reznikov.
He also explained that the Ministry of Defense does not purchase individual products. The Ministry of Defense buys a comprehensive food service. That is, the delivery of a certain set of products to military units, and in some cases, cooking. It is about the daily ration for a military serviceman, which has clear criteria regarding calorie content and other parameters. In 2022, this amount was 120 hryvnias per serviceman per day, and this year the prices range from 151 to 162 hryvnias. After the negotiations, the final cost of the catering service today is UAH 145,8. per soldier per day.
He also commented on the incident that the price of one egg according to the contract is UAH 17, while in the store the egg costs UAH 7. Reznikov explained this discrepancy with a technical error.
"In fact, this is a simple technical error made by the supplier. Eggs are the only category from the catalog that is calculated in pieces in the annex to the agreement. The supplier indicated the price not for pieces, but for the weight of the eggs, when he transferred the data from one table, where everything was measured in units of weight, to another table." - explained the minister.
The head of the Ministry of Defense added that he will not allow such dumping to block the supply of food to the army, restore the monopoly on the market and create the ground for blocking the supply of weapons.
Reznikov added that the person who handed over one of the contracts to the media representatives committed a crime of office.
The minister promised that the culprit will be brought to justice and added that the materials have been prepared for handing over to the SBU.
