On 7 March 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved new members of the Supervisory Board of the Defence Procurement Agency on the proposal of the Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov. Deputy Minister of Defence Ivan Havryliuk and Head of the Office of the Minister of Defence Stanislav Haider were appointed as representatives of the state.
Their appointment was preceded by Umerov's statement on the dismissal of two state representatives — the head of the "Come Back Alive" charity foundation, Taras Chmut, and former deputy defence minister Yuriy Dzhyhyr, who supported the supervisory board's decision to extend the contract with the then head of the Defence Procurement Agency, Maryna Bezrukova.
The Independent Anti-Corruption Commission welcomes the efforts of the Ministry of Defence to resume the work of the Supervisory Board of the Defence Procurement Agency. This was one of the steps we recommended to address the problems following the scandal involving the change of leadership at the DPA. The priority now should be to restore the full functioning of the Agency as soon as possible in order to accelerate the pace and increase the volume of arms procurement for the Defence Forces.
"We are pleased that the Supervisory Board of the Defence Production Agency is being established—this was one of our recommendations. At the same time, we should pay attention to certain nuances of this process. The board is not being set up exactly as we expected. But I don't see a problem with it being under the control of the state, because we understand that it is difficult to ensure its independence in times of war. The main thing is that the board should include people with a good reputation," said NAKO Executive Director Olena Tregub.
