Vehicles worth US$300,000 each and Grad MLRS projectiles: details of unfulfilled weapons contracts

Progress, a specialist Ukrainian state defence importer, has failed to fulfil contracts under which it should have supplied the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine with American HMMWV vehicles worth US$300,000 each and projectiles for Grad multiple-launch rocket systems.

Source: a Ukrainska Pravda investigation, Special looters. How importers withdrew billions of hryvnias from Ukraine at the height of the war

Details: In May 2022, Progress received 1.3 billion hryvnias [about US$34.5 million – ed.] from the state as an advance payment under a contract to supply 15,000 122-mm rockets for the Grad MLRS. 

Due to this, the Ministry of Defence has sued Progress to recover the money.

Another lawsuit against Progress concerns the delivery of used American combat vehicles (HMMWVs or Humvees), which were to be supplied at a cost of over US$300,000 each.

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry has filed complaints against other special exporters as well, mainly against Spetstechnoexport, Ukrspetsexport and the Agency for Defence Procurement. The total value of the claims against these companies under the overdue contracts is 8.9 billion hryvnias [about US$213.7 million – ed.].

Background: In January, Ukrainska Pravda reported that a court had repaid Oleksandr Myroniuk, former CEO of Progress, almost US$1 million that had been seized during searches. Myroniuk is a person of interest in the investigation into extortion in procurement at the Ministry of Defence. After Ukrainska Pravda published its report, the money was seized again.

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