“Since the beginning of a full -scale invasion, Ukraine has paid about $ 770 million for weapons and ammunition that have not been delivered to foreign intermediaries. It is a total of three dozen problematic contracts. This is stated in the investigation of Financial Times. The OTL Imports contract in one of the cases, the Computer Progress has signed a contract with the US OTL IMPORTS amports shop from arizona. Its founder, 28-year-old”, – WRITE ON: ua.news
Since the beginning of a full -scale invasion, Ukraine has paid about $ 770 million for weapons and ammunition that have not been delivered to foreign intermediaries. It is a total of three dozen problematic contracts.
This is stated in the investigation of Financial Times.
OTL IMPORTS CONTRACT
In one of the cases, the Company Progress has signed a contract with the US OTL IMPORTS amports shop from arizona. Its founder, a 28-year-old entrepreneur Tanner Cook, presented another businessman who had previously assisted the state-owned enterprise to organize a large agreement with Iraq in 2009.
Cook promised that he could bring shells and mortar mines from the manufacturer in Serbia, so in November 2022, Ukraine paid him an advance of € 17.1 million (35% of the contract amount). Our state has never received ammunition. The contract has become the subject of NABU’s criminal proceedings, which tries to track where the money was paid.
Progress has already won the arbitration process against OTL in Vienna. The court’s decision provides for € 21.3 million, which includes an advance payment, as well as court costs, interest and penalties. Now the state -owned enterprise is trying to secure this arbitration decision in the United States.
In the meantime, Cook, thanks to the Ukrainian contract, began to expand business, go to international weapons exhibitions and, judging by social networks, leads a luxurious lifestyle.
Another unsuccessful contract was concluded with the American Regulus Global, founded by the former Merrill Lynch broker Villa Somerindike in 2012. The company is looking for and buying old weapons.
At the end of 2022, the Regulus Global reached the Special Technoexport and suggested selling tens of thousands of artillery shells of 155 mm caliber. The proposal was particularly valuable because the ammunition had to come from a manufacturer from a country that had close ties with Russia.
The contract was signed up to $ 1.7 billion (the exact amount depended on the volume of supply). Specialtechnoexport paid the Regulus $ 162.6 million in the form of advances and deposits for execution of part of the contract, and made other payments worth € 14 million.
Later, according to Special Technoexport, Regulus violated the terms of the contract and did not return the money. Since September 2024, the company stopped all contacts and stopped responding to letters. Ukrainian officials believe that Regulus has spent prepayment on production capacity and other assets.
“They used the money we sent to them … to buy new assets,” said the former head of Special Technoexport Alexei Petrov.
Specialtechnoexport is trying to repay the funds through the court – his arbitration claim in London is aimed at recovering $ 346 million from Regulus, including prepayment, as well as outstanding debts and penalties. Regulus, in turn, categorically denies these accusations and claims that it was the Special Technoexport that failed to fulfill the terms of the contract and owed about $ 350 million.
In addition, it turned out that some agreements, including a contract for the supply of 120-mm mortars from Sudan in 2022, were attended by sellers related to the Russian FSB and a private military company Wagner. Dozens of Ukrainian officials involved in such contracts are now under investigation, FT reports.
Also, several Ukrainian officials related to the purchase of weapons abroad have been released or accused of corruption.
Most of the problematic agreements were signed without careful checks due to low internal control over transactions and haste in funding, Financial Times said.
It should be added that Ukrainian aircraft companies are suspected of collaboration with subcontracting structures and suppliers from the Russian Federation, the journalistic investigation shows. In particular, at the Center for Investigation – Businessman Roman Mileshko and MP from the Servant of the People Igor Kopitin.
Recall that Europe discusses an increase in the support of the defense industry of Ukraine instead of direct supply of weapons.
Last year, the defense industry of Ukraine produced products for $ 9 billion, providing a third of all economic growth of the country.
In 2024, Ukraine released a record number of artsystems, long-range and FPV. In this case, 40% were made at its own expense. This year it is planned to be released even more.
On February 3, the Ukrainian Defense Industry and the Polish Group Group signed a memorandum that defines the main directions of defense cooperation between the two countries.
