The Security Service has exposed the organizers of the scheme to supply defective mortar shells to the front. The general director of the plant in the Dnipropetrovsk region and his first deputy have been detained. This was reported by the press service of the SBU.
"The general director of a defense plant and his first deputy, who supplied the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a batch of ammunition that turned out to be unsuitable for combat use, were detained. In addition to the heads of the state-owned enterprise, SBU officers detained the former head of one of the military representations of the Ministry of Defense and the head of the control group of the relevant unit," the SBU statement said.
Investigators discovered that in early 2024, the plant's management signed a contract with the Defense Procurement Agency for the production of ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was to supply large batches of 120 mm mortar rounds.
However, for the mass production of shells, the plant used low-quality materials and performed work with defects, which led to the failure of the main propellant capsule and the lack of stable operation of the entire powder charge.
In this way, the organizers of the deal tried to make production cheaper in order to get more profit from the government order.
The plant management involved military representatives who were supposed to carry out quality control in the scheme. According to the case materials, military officials deliberately turned a blind eye to the defective batch of ammunition and wrote a false report.
The four detainees were charged with Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations, committed by a group of persons in a prior conspiracy, which led to grave consequences). They face up to 15 years in prison.
Sources of the Babel publication in law enforcement agencies named the names of the detained plant managers and military personnel. They are:
- Leonid Shyman, General Director of the Defense Plant;
- his first deputy, Oleksiy Kyrychenko;
- former head of one of the military offices of the Ministry of Defense, Mykhailo Shkurenko;
- Head of the control group of the relevant unit, Yuriy Yaresko.
The scandal with the supply of defective mines to the front occurred in the fall of 2024. Then it turned out that one of the defense enterprises had shipped tens of thousands of ammunition with low-quality components to the military, and also significantly disrupted the delivery dates of ammunition under the contract with the Ministry of Defense.
Earlier, the Ministry of Strategic Industry reported that the manufacturing plant replaced all defective mines and improved their technology and quality control.