The Supervisory Board of Ukraine’s Defense Procurement Agency has engaged Baker Tilly Ukraine to conduct an independent financial audit of the agency for 2025.
According to the agency’s press service, Baker Tilly Ukraine was selected as the winner of a tender to conduct the audit.
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“The audit will provide an independent assessment of the Agency’s financial reporting, compliance with financial discipline and efficiency of resource use,” the agency said on Facebook.
The engagement of an international audit company is part of the Supervisory Board’s efforts to strengthen transparency, accountability, and the agency’s corporate governance system, it added.
Following the audit, Baker Tilly is expected to provide an independent opinion and recommendations on improving the agency’s financial and management processes.
At the same time, the selection of a contractor to conduct a separate functional audit of the agency, with NATO support, is nearing completion, according to the Defense Procurement Agency.
Baker Tilly Ukraine is an independent member of the international Baker Tilly network and provides audit and consulting services. The company meets the qualification requirements of international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, for audit services under projects they finance.
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The Defense Procurement Agency is a state enterprise under Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. It was established to optimize and centralize defense procurement and is tasked with ensuring transparent and efficient purchases in line with NATO standards.
Previous disputes over the agency
The agency has previously been at the center of a major dispute with the defense ministry, including a conflict involving then-Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and former agency director Maryna Bezrukova.
On Jan. 24, 2025, Umerov decided to dismiss Bezrukova despite the Supervisory Board’s decision to extend her contract. Three days later, Umerov initiated an internal investigation into the agency.
Bezrukova was suspended from her duties, while Arsen Zhumadilov was temporarily appointed to perform the director’s functions.
The status of the agency’s leadership subsequently became the subject of a legal and administrative dispute. On Jan. 29, Bezrukova was listed in the state register as the agency’s head, while Zhumadilov lost the right to sign documents.
On Jan. 31, however, the Ministry of Justice restored Zhumadilov’s signing authority, while Bezrukova’s status was changed to “suspended from official duties for the duration of the internal investigation.”
That same day, Bezrukova appealed to President Volodymyr Zelensky, asking him to intervene and ensure that the conflict with the defense ministry was resolved legally and that the agency could operate without what she described as pressure and blockages.
The defense ministry said the leadership change was prompted by alleged failures to meet planned deliveries to the front, concerns raised by the General Staff over defense procurement planning, delays in communicating with military authorities, and unjustified postponements of delivery schedules.
The ministry also said the Supervisory Board’s chair had failed to ensure proper communication with its members and the defense ministry. It further argued that an agreement extending Bezrukova’s contract had been concluded without the ministry’s consent.
From Feb. 1, 2025, Zhumadilov was formally tasked with temporarily performing the duties of agency director.
Tensions between the defense ministry and the Defense Procurement Agency had reportedly been building since at least September 2024.
At the time, Bezrukova said she did not understand what specifically the ministry was dissatisfied with, noting that Umerov had not made direct complaints to her and had previously publicly supported her initiatives.
The conflict also drew attention from the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the defense ministry, whose members described the situation as a prominent example of problems with corporate governance.
Procurement controversies
The agency also faced public criticism over several procurement-related controversies.
In January 2025, Defense Express analyst Serhiy Zgurets reported on the Espresso website that the agency had signed a contract concerning M6A2 anti-tank mines containing TNT. The mines were first produced in the US in 1941, and reports said the potential cost was about €600 ($695) per mine.
The agency responded that the contract created no financial obligations and that Ukraine would purchase the mines only if they successfully passed technical inspections.
The agency also said that 1941 represented the earliest production year for the mines and that the final price could be reduced. It argued that Ukraine urgently needed anti-tank mines along the front and that, if the mines passed testing, the contract could help meet the Armed Forces’ needs within weeks.
Following the publication, Espresso said it had received an offer to remove the article in exchange for money, which it rejected. Suspicion of an attempt to influence the publication initially fell on the Defense Procurement Agency because the article was critical of the agency.
The agency denied any involvement in attempts to influence Espresso’s editorial policy and said it would itself contact law enforcement to investigate the incident.
Around the same period, MP Oleksandra Ustinova published a column in Ukrainska Pravda outlet criticizing the agency’s performance. She accused its representatives of professional incompetence and alleged that billions of hryvnias had remained uncommitted for months, while potential suppliers’ offers were allegedly delayed or lost.
Ustinova also alleged that some purchases were being made through intermediary companies rather than directly from suppliers, potentially creating opportunities for profiteering from wartime procurement.
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