The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence announced on 11 September 2024, that it had returned 230,000 non-compliant pieces of equipment to suppliers in August alone, bringing the total for 2024 to 1.8 million pieces of gear returned due to its low-quality.
The value of equipment returned in August was Hrv550m ($14.9m), with a total for $40m for the whole of 2024, with August accounting for 37.25% of returns for the year.
The excessive return of equipment is due to a change in amendments following Defense Ministry Order 375, according to Deputy Minister of Defense Yuriy Dzhyhyr. This change resulted in the relocation of the technical inspection of goods away from the suppliers premises.
Under the current order, inspection is conducted Joint Logistics Centers of the Logistics Forces Command. Dzhyhyr points out that while before there was a “chance of swapping out gear and clothing that had been technically inspected at the suppliers’ premises”, following the relocation of the technical inspection that chance is “greatly diminshed’.
Since the start of 2024, the Ministry of Defence’s Main Department of Quality Control has approved more than 16 million units of gear and clothing, valued at $321.3m.
Based on this information, the return rate for 2024, rejecting 1.8 million pieces of gear from 17.8 million pieces assesed would appear to be 10.11%.
