Pavlohrad Chemical Plant, which supplies low-quality mines to army, receives state order for UAH 60 bln – MP Siumar
SEO Scientific and Production Association Pavlohrad Chemical Plant, which previously supplied low-quality mines to the front, received a new state order for UAH 59 billion, MP of the European Solidarity faction Viktoria Siumar said referring to the official response to her from the Defense Procurement Agency.
"During February-April 2025, eight state contracts were concluded between the Agency and Pavlohrad Chemical Plant, of which five contracts for the supply of ammunition with a total value of UAH 59,582,812,109, and three contracts for the supply of discharges with a total value of UAH 894,671,250," says the official response of the Defense Procurement Agency signed by Director Arsen Zhumadilov, a scanned copy of which Siumar published on Facebook.
She noted that the problems with defective mines occurred only six months ago and claims that the problem with military acceptance has not been resolved.
"The supply of defective mines became possible due to problems with the military acceptance system. And now, when these problems have not yet been eliminated, when there are suspicions, because the damage to the state's defense capability is obvious, when, after all, Ukrainians pay for such things with their lives, the Ukrainian state orders ammunition from the same enterprise for an astronomical sum of UAH 60 billion. Someone will say that they are monopolists, but surely the history with mines should teach us to diversify risks and buy in parallel from partners," the MP wrote.
According to Siumar, the total budget of the Defense Procurement Agency for the purchase of weapons per year is UAH 370 billion, "and 60 of them in the first months of the year go to a compromised company [although I fully assume that this company is capable of making high-quality explosives, etc., but the sum for them is significantly less]."
"Yes, it's a lot of money. But the price here is much higher - in the country's ability to protect itself. And it is measured in lives. That is why I believe that attention to this topic is important. And control. And the new system for receiving military goods is also critically important. The inefficiency of the state here means very poor prospects in the terrible war of attrition with the Russian Federation, and corruption here is killing, and this is not pathos or a ‘figure of speech,’ she added.
As reported, in August 2024, two entrepreneurs were notified of suspicion of supplying the Armed Forces of Ukraine with defective artillery mines worth almost UAH 270 million.
Later, on November 26, the Ministry of Defense reported that it had been investigating the causes of the abnormal operation of 120-mm mines for the third week. This was preceded by relevant publications in the media, which stated that the total number of such mines could reach 100,000.
Minister of Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin reported that the working group, based on the results of its work on November 11-15, confirmed the abnormal operation of several mine components and out of 54,000, which were suspected, about 24,000 mines were subject to return, which was less than 1% of the products produced that year.
In January 2025, Smetanin reported that about 10% of the defective 120-mm mines had already been replaced by the manufacturer by that time, the process is ongoing and is taking place entirely at the manufacturer's expense. According to him, in 15 batches with a total of 54,000 mines, all remarks and shortcomings had been worked out.
At the same time, he denied information about the supply of low-quality 82-mm mines with defective fuses to the 151st brigade, stating that appropriate tests had been conducted, and the brigade "did not even receive the mine fuses mentioned" in the publication. It was alleged that the troops were supplied with more than 60,000 82-mm caliber mines that could have defects.
In general, Smetanin noted, taking into account the aforementioned publication, two cases of the supply of low-quality mines to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ministry of Strategic Industries is also aware of a third case, which was "processed" in a working order together with the Ministry of Defense.
At the end of April, European Pravda citing the official response of the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, reported that the total number of problematic mortar rounds supplied to the army by "one of the state-owned enterprises" was 39,455 pieces, and they have already been completely replaced at the manufacturer's expense within the framework of warranty obligations. The replacement of defective mines took place in stages every month, starting from December 2024. In parallel, the plant shipped ammunition under current contracts.
"Changes have been made to the design of mortar rounds, production technology has been improved, and product quality control has been strengthened. New batches of 120-mm mortar rounds have been manufactured using modified technology and have undergone a number of tests, including in the military," the Ministry of Strategic Industries said in a response.
It also reported that two criminal proceedings are ongoing to investigate individuals who may be responsible for supplying substandard ammunition last fall.
In total, the Ministry of Strategic Industries reported 2.4 million mines and artillery ammunition produced in 2024.
