Shmyhal has no complaints against heads of agencies for arms procurement and logistics of the Armed Forces

The newly appointed minister of Defense Denys Shmyhal currently has no complaints against the head of the Defense Procurement Agency (AOZ) Arsen Zhumadilov and acting head of the State Logistics Operator (DOT) Andriy Sozanskyy. He made the following statement in an interview with the Ukrainian service of the British BBC News.

"When I took office as Defense Minister, I said that we would focus on three issues. The first, and the key one, is people. The second is the system. We have already partially talked about the system – we need to organize the work of the Ministry so that it works like clockwork. And third, arms procurement is an arms procurement system, and today it is on a certain track. Arsen Zhumadilov was appointed in accordance with all the necessary procedures. The work is underway," the official said.

Shmyhal said that there are no complaints about the stability of the supply of the army.

"There may always be nuances, there may be a human factor in some cases, but 99% of everything is working more or less smoothly in the healthcare facilities and the DOT. Accordingly, I conclude that the manager and the team working there today are moving in the right direction," the Defense minister said.

At the same time, he added, the reform of the agencies will continue, and the Defense Ministry will look at "where we can improve further, where we can reduce prices without reducing quality, where we can increase quality without increasing prices."

According to the minister, if he has any complaints about Zhumadilov's work, he will express them, but at the moment he has no critical remarks about the leadership of the AOZ and DOT.

"We will continue to study and see how the process will move forward," Shmyhal summarized.

• The previous minister of Defense, and now secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Umerov has faced criticism over the work of the MoD procurement agencies. In particular, analyst Badrak in an article for LIGA.net reported that Ukraine has its own privately developed air defense system, but its serial production is hampered by the position of the Defense Ministry. Instead, the agency replied that purchase air defense systems from Ukrainian manufacturers as well.
• In the same text, the expert said that the Ministry of Defense is wasting the chances to strengthen air defense provided by Western partners and cited two relevant cases.
• The Anti-Corruption Action Center also criticized Umerov's team for the procurement. Instead, the head of AOZ Zhumadilov stated that this position of the organization may be related to "unrealized ambitions".
• In July, the Logistics Forces wrote about more than 1,000 violations of contracts for the supply of food for the defenders over six months. The military subsequently deleted their publication, and the DOT stated that these violations accounted for less than 1% of the total supply. LIGA.net's source in the Defense Ministry said that the Logistics Forces deleted the post because until the new head of the agency, Shmyhal, gets up to speed, communication on this topic was put on hold.