Ukraine has spent more than 770 million dollars since the start of the war to buy weapons from private suppliers around the world, which in the end were never delivered, the Financial Times has said.
According to the publication, this was mainly due to the chaos in the first months of the war, when ammunition shortages suspended the usual rules under which the country procured weapons and officials were instructed to look for them wherever possible.
Ammunition and weapons were ordered from local suppliers or through middlemen of dubious repute, many of whom failed to deliver what they had ordered after receiving an advance payment. In total, the FT counted about 30 such deals worth several million each. The Ukrainian authorities are now trying to recover the advances already paid through the courts. In some cases, these purchases had a corruption component. Dozens of officials responsible for the purchases have been dismissed in Ukraine, and criminal cases are underway against some of them, the FT reported.
Ukraine’s annual budget for arms purchases is 6-8bn dollars.
