By Andrew E. Kramer, Bianca Pallaro and Evelina Riabenko
Andrew E. Kramer and Evelina Riabenko reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Bianca Pallaro reported from New York.
Sept. 6, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ET
Earlier this year, we received a set of audits that reviewed how the Ukrainian military was spending its money on weapons and ammunition for the war against Russia.
Ukrainian military procurement is notoriously corrupt and mismanaged. In more than 700 pages of financial tables and dryly worded critiques, these records offer one of the finest-grained pictures to date of just how the process goes wrong.
The confidential reviews by the State Audit Service and an internal Ministry of Defense auditing department cover 2024 and 2025. They show persistent patterns of overpaying for weapons, cutting deals with intermediaries rather than directly with manufacturers, and awarding contracts to companies that have already failed to deliver or been charged with corruption.
The Defense Procurement Agency declined to comment. Tamerlan Vahabov, a former adviser to the agency, told us that overspending and waste have real consequences. “As a result, we don’t have money to order more weapons,” he said. “And we don’t have the quantity of ammunition we need. And it is a recurring pattern.”
Auditors found repeated examples of inflated prices, yet nothing was done.
In Ukraine, even small amounts of money are considered essential when it comes to raising funds for the military. Many restaurant bills suggest donations to the army rather than tips.
But auditors found that military procurement officials routinely paid higher prices than necessary for weapons.
A 2024 report by the State Audit Service sharply criticized the country’s dealings with arms traders, who serve as intermediaries and typically charge a markup of at least 3 percent. A large majority of purchases were made through these intermediaries, which drove up prices and made tens of millions of dollars for the companies.
Despite that critique, another audit in early 2025 again found multiple lucrative contracts with traders, even when weapons could be obtained for less directly from manufacturers.
For example, in 2024, when Ukraine needed to buy hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of rockets, the agency signed a contract with a Czech intermediary, even though it had significantly cheaper offers for the same products, including a direct offer from the manufacturer.
Ukrainian soldiers with mortar rounds at a position on the outskirts of Kupiansk, in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, in 2025.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Companies failed to deliver, or provided faulty ammo, and still got more contracts.
Of the top 10 contractors for Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, seven won new business despite having defaulted on earlier contracts or having their senior management under criminal investigation.
One contractor received new business while he was out on bail in a corruption case.
The auditors found Ukraine’s weapons purchasers signed deals with 18 companies that had a history of defaulting on agreements. Six of these had failed to fulfill a single contract, yet the agency continually signed new contracts with them.
One company failed to deliver any of the 600 specialized drones it promised, then won a new contract for 1,950 more.
Of these, the company delivered only 50 units on time, auditors wrote.
The audits did not explain why the companies kept winning business. Former officials and experts say that corruption is to blame for much of the mismanagement and overspending.
Companies won contracts without proving they could deliver.
Ukraine’s Defense Procurement Agency contracted with an intermediary, which promised to deliver 70-millimeter unguided aviation rockets from Turkey.
The Turkish manufacturer, though, warned the Ukrainian military that it could not provide the volumes that the intermediary had promised. The government signed the deal anyway, auditors found.
The military bought the weapons without proof that they had been tested. One rocket exploded in a launch tube and severely damaged a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter during a combat operation, triggering a criminal investigation by the domestic intelligence agency.
Arms companies reported rising profits, while Ukraine’s losses piled up.
The war has meant surging profits surging for military contractors in Ukraine and around the world.
The Czechoslovak Group, a major European weapons manufacturing and trading company, went public this year. It told investors that it had benefited significantly from sales in Ukraine.
An explosives supplier, the Pavlohrad Chemical Plant in central Ukraine, reversed years of losses by selling to the military during the war.
American and European contractors have made millions, too.
But problems with the procurement process have meant real losses for the Ukrainian government.
Auditors found that in just one year, 2024, Ukraine lost about $1.2 billion to fraud, waste and mismanagement.
***
Andrew E. Kramer is the Kyiv bureau chief for The Times, who has been covering the war in Ukraine since 2014.
What I Cover
Along with the rest of our team in Ukraine, I cover the largest war in Europe since World War II. I cover stories about military operations, trench warfare, morale in society and the army, the policies of allies and domestic politics in Ukraine. New York Times reporters and photographers have worked on the front lines since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. We interview soldiers, officers, military analysts and members of Ukraine’s civilian leadership.
We also report on the cultural and political rebirth of Ukraine in the war, as the invasion has stoked a renewed patriotism alongside dismay and hardship. We write about the roughly one quarter of Ukraine’s people who have been displaced by the war and the less visible harm such as widespread mental health problems in society. We also cover the geopolitics of the conflict and the shifting security landscape in Eastern Europe.
My Background
I have worked as a reporter in the countries of the former Soviet Union for most of my career. In 2005, I joined The Times, where I have written on a wide range of topics, including the oil industry, economics, climate change, the return of authoritarian rule to Russia and the uprising on Kyiv’s Maidan Square in 2014. Before The Times, I worked at The Washington Post as a researcher, at The San Francisco Chronicle as a freelance reporter, and The Associated Press, where I reported on state news in Oregon.
In 2017, I shared with Times colleagues a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for an investigative series on Russia’s covert projection of power. In 2023, I shared with colleagues the same prize for reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
I received a bachelor’s in history from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a master’s in history from Oxford University. I was born in Oakland, Calif.
Journalistic Ethics
As a Times journalist, I am committed to the standards outlined in our Ethical Journalism Handbook. Reporting on war and the military requires special considerations. I take precautions to not put people at risk with my reporting. I don’t, for example, reveal details of military operations or positions that might be used in targeting.
Contact Me
Bianca Pallaro is a Times reporter who combines traditional reporting with data analysis skills to investigate wrongdoing and explain complex issues by turning numbers into insightful information. What I Cover
My role allows me to cover a wide range of topics and collaborate with reporters across the newsroom. I focus on data-driven investigations that expose abuses of power and violations of public trust, but I also frequently produce quick-turn, data-supported projects that arise from breaking news.
My Background
I joined The Times from The City, a local nonprofit newsroom in New York, where I worked as a senior data reporter responsible for conceiving and carrying out in-depth data investigations. Before that, I worked on USA Today’s data journalism team, handling quick-turn data projects and midrange enterprise stories on the investigations desk. In 2021, I worked on contract for a year at The Upshot, a section of The Times that specializes in explanatory and analytical journalism. Before moving to the United States in 2020 to pursue my master’s at Columbia University, I worked for four years as a senior data reporter covering politics and corruption at La Nación, a prominent Argentine newspaper.
Journalistic Ethics
I am committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity outlined in our Ethical Journalism Handbook. My approach to data analysis mirrors the skepticism and fairness I apply to human sources. I prioritize transparency by openly addressing any uncertainties or limitations inherent in the data I analyze and present to our readers.
Contact Me
***
Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine
-- Peace Talks: President Vladimir Putin ordered a pause in strikes on Kyiv as two top U.S. envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, visited the city and Moscow in an effort to revive discussions of a peace agreement to end the war, according to officials. Here’s where the talks stand.
-- Ukraine’s Intelligence Office Struck: Russia attacked the headquarters of Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service in Kyiv, unsuccessfully targeting the agency’s director, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
-- Risk of Russian Sabotage: Europe’s options are limited in responding to an unnerving series of plots and provocations. But the odds of unpredictable consequences are rising.
-- Forging a Path to Peace: Kyrylo Budanov, a decorated soldier and former military spy chief for Ukraine, advocates a negotiated settlement. Talks are expected to resume this month.
***
How We Verify Our Reporting
-- Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs, videos and radio transmissions to independently confirm troop movements and other details.
-- We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts.
Comments
Post a Comment