A stalemate between the Ukrainian Defense Minister and the official in charge of getting weapons threatened to intensify on Monday, arousing dissent in the government at a critical moment while trying to convince President Trump to maintain American support for the war against Russia.
The dispute broke out three days ago when the minister, Rustem Umerov, said he did not renew the contract of Maryna Bezrukova, head of the defense procurement agency, citing “unsatisfactory” results. But on Monday, Mrs. Bezrukova said she would remain in her position, underlining that her contract had been renewed by the Agency’s supervisory council and that Mr. Umerov did not have the right to bypass that decision.
The agency was established to guarantee transparency and efficiency in the acquisition of weapons. Activists and some legislators, including one of a prominent in the party of President Volodymyr Zelensky, denounced Mr. Umerov’s move as an abuse of power that threatened anti -corruption efforts.
“The action of the minister is a serious crime against our legislation and the corporate government,” said Mrs. Bezrukova in an interview during the weekend, calling him a “attack” on the efforts of the agency to eliminate questionadiari that can be questionable Ukrainian a Sometimes he relying to buy weapons during the war.
He reported to his office on Monday, and it is not clear how the stall would have been resolved.
The dispute threatens to weaken an organization that managed over 7 billion dollars in the supply of weapons last year and had become a partner for the western allies who channeled funds in the growing defense industry of Ukraine – a new Kiev initiative It aims to develop as an alternative for the reduction of weapons supplies from the West.
Kiev’s Western diplomats met on Monday with government officials and agencies to discuss the contracts, according to several participants, who spoke anonymously to discuss private resolution. In the meantime, the head of the Anti -Corruption Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament has asked for the resignation of Mr. Umerov.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense did not respond to a commentary request. It seems unlikely that Mr. Umerov will resign, since Mr. Zelensky has not offered any criticism so far.
This is not the first time that the Ukrainian government moved to oust officials with responsibility for the reform of state institutions, some of which have caused internal friction. Last year, for example, Oleksandr Kubrakov was fired as Minister of Infrastructure for reasons never clarified.
But the attempt to fire Mrs. Bezrukova arrives while Ukraine is struggling to send enough weapons to her troops in the front and risks the risk of losing supplies of vital weapons from her key ally, the United States.
Activists are also worried, sends the wrong message to western partners, in particular the US Republicans, who have long expressed concern for corruption in Ukraine. “What Minister Umerov is doing is sabotage our defense skills and our ability to maintain the trust of our international partners regarding the contracts of weapons,” said Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti -Corruption Action Center of the Ukraine.
Umerov said in a Facebook post that the agency had failed in “timely refueling to our army” and instead involved in “political games, leaks of contracts and information losses”. Did not provide specific examples.
Tamerlan Vahabov, former councilor of Mrs. Bezrukova who resigned last year, also criticized the agency, saying that sometimes she had not managed to effectively evaluate the contracts. He said that the Agency was based too much to the purchase of state companies instead of direct supply from private suppliers.
Mrs. Bezrukova was appointed head of the defense agency a year ago, after Mr. Umerov took over as a defense minister. He promised to eradicate corruption in the ministry following a series of revelations on contracts not managed for weapons and basic supplies such as food.
The main task of Mrs. Bezrukova, who is a former top manager of the National Electricity Company, was to eliminate intermediaries, often the merchant traders who were inflating prices. He said the agency reduced the share of the contracts for Ukrainian intermediaries from 81 percent in 2023 to 12 % last year. These figures could not be verified independently.
Mrs. Bezrukova said that her work led to tensions with the ministry. He said that the defense officials forced her to sign a contract with a Ukrainian weapon factory of state property that was missing from workers and gunpowder to produce mortar bullets. After being produced and sent to the front, many shells have not been able to shoot, triggering a great scandal in Ukraine.
The Ministry of Defense recognized that just over 20,000 bullets had been withdrawn. But others believed that the figure was much higher.
Mr. Vahabov said that even if he had to face pressure, Mrs. Bezrukova should have been more vocal to oppose the contract. He also said he could have conducted multiple two diligence checks on the production of factory weapons. He said that there were many “regulatory and administrative issues” with the structure of the agency that hindered the supply work.
Mrs. Bezrukova said she hoped that the creation of a supervisory council at the agency at the end of last year, a move applauded by western partners, would have helped to safeguard her independence. “I don’t want to be a showcase or reputational washing machine,” he said in the interview on Saturday.
However, one day before the first meeting of the Council, on December 17, the Ministry of Defense modified the Agency’s Charter, effectively granting the final authority of the Ministry on most of the Council decisions. “They deformed with the Authority of the Council,” said Yuriy Dzhygyr, president of the board of directors and former deputy of Mr. Urmerov.
After the supervisory council voted last week to extend Mrs. Bezrukova’s contract for a year, Umerov said he did not renew his contract and announced the dismissal of two state representatives on the Board of Directors, including Dzhygyr.
Mrs. Kaleniuk, the anti -corruption activist, said that the card does not guarantee the Ministry of Defense in the extension of the agency’s head contract. The card, revised from the New York Times, allows, however, to the Ministry of Defense to reject any official of the Agency “in the event of identifying existing or potential threats to national Ukrainian security”.
It is not clear for what the legal reasons Mr. Umerov decided to fire Mrs. Bezrukova.
With western partners, in particular European ones, unable to provide all the weapons that need Ukraine, the agency has contributed to implementing an initiative that uses western funds to pay the contracts signed with local weapons manufacturers . The Ministry of Defense said that more than half a billion dollars of weapons were produced last year through this new mechanism.
It is not clear if that new mechanism will continue to work given the current stall.
“This is the worst time possible for Kiev to bring the clock back on a success story of the defense reform: when Ukraine needs additional funding for weapons and cynical opponents in Moscow and in some Washington neighborhoods are In search of reasons to question the integrity of the Ukrainian defense, “said the United States German Marshall Fund, a research institute.
Andrew E. Kramer Contributed relationships.