Officials of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine buy food products for servicemen two to three times more expensive than in Kyiv stores.

ZN.UA writes about this with reference to the agreement of the Ministry of Defense on the purchase of food.

The publication has a copy of the agreement worth UAH 13.16 billion, which was concluded on December 23, 2022 by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for the provision of food services in 2023 for military units stationed in Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Cherkasy regions.

For comparison, the publication chose the "Silpo" chain of stores in the sleepy district of Kyiv.

The prices for the most necessary food turned out to be 2-3 times higher.

In particular, the Ministry of Defense contracted eggs for UAH 17 per piece, while the retail price in a store in Kyiv is currently about UAH 7 per piece.

Potatoes were ordered at UAH 22 per kilogram, and the retail price in the store is UAH 8–9.

A chicken thigh was ordered for UAH 120 per kilogram, and in the store - UAH 80.

The publication notes that purchase prices are compared with retail prices, which already include both the manufacturer's profit and the store's markup, and they are a priori higher than wholesale prices.

"Yes, an attentive reader will note that the contract is not only about the purchase, but also about the provision of food services. Maybe that is why it is more expensive? No, if you delve into the document, you will see that the services are really there as a separate item of expenses in UAH 30 million, i.e. 0.2% of the total amount of the contract, not even 2% and definitely not twice," the article says.

The current contract in the amount of UAH 13 billion was concluded by the Ministry of Defense with Active Company LLC.

This company has a charter capital of one thousand hryvnias.

In 2021, the tax service revoked this company's VAT certificate due to the lack of supplies and failure to submit declarations.

In 2019, Active Company LLC appeared in the criminal proceedings of the National Police No. 12019100100003229.

The company submitted a forged deed that did not correspond to reality in order to participate in the tender for the supply of beef for the institutions of execution of punishments and pretrial detention centers of the State Criminal Enforcement Service, the publication writes.

According to the publication, Valery Mykolayovych Melesh from Bila Tserkva (Kyiv region) became the founder and director of Active Company a month before concluding this contract with the Ministry of Defense.

Previously, he was the director of the State Enterprise of the Ministry of Defense "Bilotserkiv Military Trading".

"The first founder of "Active Company" in 2016 was Tetyana Hryhorivna Sheremet. Previously, she was the director of the subsidiary "Odesa Military Industry" of the State Enterprise of the Ministry of Defense "Trade Department of the Southern Operational Command". That is, "Active Company" is most likely a "pad" created by professionals in the field supply of food for the military," the material states.

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