MOSCOW, June 25. /TASS/. The office of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has a corrupt scheme of purchasing equipment and food for the army, its participants receive kickbacks of up to 30% of the tender price for supplies to the Ukrainian military, the Strana news outlet reported, citing the head of one of the companies involved in the tender.

"It was almost impossible to win the tender without coordination with the presidential administration and without bribes. A pool of ‘their’ companies was formed, which knew in advance that they would win <...>. The price was inflated several times. Kickbacks ranged from 10% to 30%, but everyone still made good money. This applies to all orders for the Defense Ministry: both clothing and products for the army," the news outlet quoted the source as saying. He added that the active army was often supplied with "absolutely unusable" goods.

The source added that after the information about the supply of eggs to the Ukrainian servicemen at 17 hryvnias each became public, the situation changed, as Ukraine's Western partners learned about it, and "the schemes became more complicated." He also emphasized that now only a narrow circle of suppliers is allowed to participate in tenders for purchases by the Ukrainian military, and it is impossible to negotiate as before and get a state order for a bribe.

Corruption scandals in the procurement of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry broke out last year after revelations in the press. In particular, the UNIAN news agency and the Zerkalo Nedely weekly published documents showing that the military department was buying food for servicemen at prices two to three times higher than in Kiev supermarkets. Against this backdrop, Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov was dismissed in September. In November, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced new rules for food procurement, which it said would eliminate corruption scandals.