More than a week after it began, a standoff between Ukraine’s defense minister and the official overseeing weapons procurement remains unresolved and is beginning to disrupt arms contracts, Ukrainian defense companies say.
Ukraine’s arms industry trade group has said that more than 80 defense companies, accounting for about a third of last year’s supplies to the army, “are unable to receive payment for completed orders and sign new contracts.” In one such case, a contract to produce 155-millimeter artillery rounds, a caliber used in many field guns, has been put on hold, the producer of the ammunition said.
The standoff is unlikely to have an immediate effect on arms supplies to Ukrainian troops, the companies said, as current deliveries are drawn from previous contracts. But if it persists, it could jeopardize supplies in the months ahead at a critical time for the Ukrainian Army, which is already struggling to contain Russia’s advance on the battlefield.
At the root of the issue is a tense showdown over the leadership of Ukraine’s defense procurement agency, which had a budget of over $7 billion last year. The defense minister, Rustem Umerov, recently dismissed the agency’s director, Maryna Bezrukova, citing “poor procurement planning” and delayed supplies to the front line, and appointed an acting head.
Ms. Bezrukova has denied the claims of mismanagement and said her dismissal was illegal, because her contract was extended by the agency’s supervisory board. She said on Monday that she would not resign.
The standoff has escalated to the point where both Ms. Bezrukova and the new acting head, Arsen Zhumadilov, have been working from the agency’s headquarters in recent days, including Monday, leaving international partners and defense companies confused about who was responsible for signing contracts.
“The normal day-to-day work of the defense procurement agency is just blocked,” Serhiy Honcharov, head of the National Association of Ukrainian Defense Industries, said in an interview. “Who is actually in charge? No one knows. In this chaos, it’s impossible to sign contracts.”
Serhiy Bulavko, the head of the procurement control department at the defense ministry, told reporters on Friday that there were “no disruptions in weapons supplies” as of now and that “contracting is underway.”
The tumult in Ukraine’s defense sector also risks derailing Kyiv’s efforts to convince its allies, especially President Trump, to maintain support for its fight against Russia. A key part of these efforts was a new mechanism to fund Ukrainian weapon production with Western money through the agency, as an alternative to direct arms supplies.
Last year, half a billion dollars’ worth of weapons were produced through this mechanism. Kyiv aims to double that amount this year.
The agency was established last year in an effort to curb corruption in the procurement process — a move that was applauded by Ukraine’s Western partners. It buys weapons from both foreign and domestic producers.
Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s minister for European integration and justice, complained last week that the standoff was sending the wrong message to Kyiv’s partners. She told the Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne that NATO members had raised questions about the issue in private meetings. “Such aggressive public communication does not help Ukraine, inside and outside,” she said.
Mr. Umerov sought to dismiss Ms. Bezrukova by declining to extend her contract as head of the agency. The move has sparked some calls for his resignation. But he appears unlikely to step down after President Volodymyr Zelensky voiced support for him in an interview with The Associated Press released Sunday.
“The defense minister has the right to do everything necessary to prevent any delays in supplies,” Mr. Zelensky said.
Vladyslav Belbas, the head of Ukrainian Armor Design and Manufacturing Co., a private Ukrainian arms company, said a contract to produce 155-millimeter artillery rounds that was slated to be signed by late January had been put on hold because of the dispute. Ms. Bezrukova confirmed that the contract had not been signed.
“That affects our production capabilities. Because if we don’t know what’s happening, how can I scale the production or how can I least plan for the production?” Mr. Belbas said in a phone interview.