Ukraine merges military procurement agencies, defying previous NATO advice
Ukraine’s lethal and non-lethal military equipment procurement agencies will merge into one under the Defense Ministry from Jan. 1, going against NATO’s recommendations last year and raising eyebrows among anti-corruption activists.
A new supervisory board will also be created for the joint agency, Defense Minister Denys Shymhal wrote on Telegram on Dec. 3. The move comes amid sweeping reforms in state-owned companies following a massive corruption investigation in the energy and defense sectors, rocking President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration.
"We continue to move towards increasing the transparency and efficiency of defense enterprises," Shymhal wrote.
"We are establishing close and productive cooperation with private producers to develop the defense industry and ensure the Ukrainian Armed Forces have all the necessary equipment."
The joint agency, called the Unified Acquisition Agency, will manage contracts for the most crucial goods for Ukraine’s military, including weapons, ammunition, clothing, and food. It will replace the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA), in charge of lethal products, and the State Rear Operator (DOT), which buys non-lethal goods.
Merging the agencies will speed up procurement and decision-making, and lay the "foundation for a comprehensive strategy to support military operations," the press office of the DPA told the Kyiv Independent, when asked why the merger was happening.
But on the back of corruption investigations into key figures in the defense sector, like ex-Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, alarm bells are ringing among activists.
The joint agency is estimated to manage around Hr 1 trillion annually ($23.7 billion), Daria Kaleniuk, executive director at the Anti-Corruption Action Center, a watchdog, told the Kyiv Independent. Such a large sum under one agency escalates corruption risks, she added.
When asked if the merger could heighten corruption risks, the DPA’s press office told the Kyiv Independent that it had been in consistent communication with partners and civil society about the plan.
This also isn’t the first time a merger has been under discussion. Under Umerov, the Defense Ministry proposed joining the two agencies in September 2024 but backtracked after NATO swiftly rebuked the idea and recommended Ukraine keep the agencies separate.
The DPA’s press office told the Kyiv Independent that this time, NATO had no objection and "viewed the decision favorably."
The Kyiv Independent reached out to NATO for comment on the planned merger, but didn’t receive a reply by the time of publication.
The Defense Ministry's move also goes back on its pledge to only join the agencies after the end of martial law. In May, the ministry announced a commission, led by Arsen Zhumadilov, head of the DPA, that would oversee the "reorganization" of DOT to lay the framework for the merger post-war.
But since May, the agency has effectively operated as one body, with Zhumadilov acting as the head, Kaleniuk said. For now, there is little information on how the merger will take place, including whether Zhumadilov will head the agency, as planned by Umerov in 2024.
Nor is the supervisory board process clear, as a competition has not been announced, nor have DOT board members said whether they will move to DPA. The DPA said that it could not provide comments on the supervisory board process.
The supervisory boards were part of reforms in the defense procurement sector to keep an eye on the opaque practices. Under the reforms, DOT was created in December 2023 and headed by Zhumadilov, while the DPA focused on lethal procurement under the new leadership of Maryna Bezrukova.
However, the DPA soon fell into the center of a political scandal in early 2025, when Umerov replaced Bezrukova with Zhumadilov, bypassing the decision of the supervisory board to extend Bezrukova’s contract. Bezrukova told the Kyiv Independent at the time that Umerov wanted someone loyal to him, like Zhumadilov.
While Umerov left his post in July 2025, Zhumadilov is still widely seen as being close to him, said Kaleniuk. Umerov, who is also leading the peace talks with the U.S., is being investigated by anti-corruption officials as part of the ongoing corruption scandal. So far, he has not been charged with any crimes.
"Since Umerov cannot be trusted, his protege cannot be trusted either. Keeping Zhumadilov as the director of a big monster — the merged DPA and DOT — which is managing about a Hr trillion a year, is a huge risk," Kaleniuk said.
