The Armed Forces of Ukraine received defective mortar mines worth about 13 million US dollars under contracts with a private company, while an additional 57 million US dollars were allegedly misappropriated by the same contractor. This was reported on Friday by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

According to the statement, a pre-trial investigation is underway under prosecutorial supervision into the large-scale embezzlement of budget funds. Preliminary estimates put the total damage to the state at approximately 2.994 billion hryvnias, or around 69 million US dollars. Of this amount, about 571 million hryvnias represent losses caused by the delivery of unusable mines, while roughly 2.423 billion hryvnias are linked to the possible misappropriation of advance payments.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said the private company signed five government contracts with the Department of Military-Technical Policy of the Ministry of Defense, the Defense Procurement Agency, and the Logistics Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the supply of various types of mines. In most cases, the deliveries never took place despite the contractor receiving payment. Some mines were delivered, but expert examinations confirmed that they were unfit for use.

Law enforcement authorities have brought charges against ten individuals, four of whom have already been detained. The investigation is ongoing.