On 24 June 2025, the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (NAKO) held a Defence Talks meeting entitled ‘The Security and Defence Sector: Dynamics of Change and Cooperation with International Partners’. Around 60 people attended the event, including military attachés, embassy representatives, experts and civil society representatives. Tetiana Nikolaienko, NAKO senior researcher and deputy head of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defence, moderated the meeting.
The current state of defence procurement in Ukraine
The speakers on the first panel were: Olena Tregub, NAKO Executive Director and member of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the MoD; Nikita Nikitenko, Director of Operations of the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA); Yuliia Vysotska, Director of the League of Defense Сompanies of Ukraine; Anton Melnyk, representative of the MITS Defence Fund.
The topics discussed were:
- the activities of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the MoD as an example of openness in the security and defence sector during the war;
- updated approaches in the work of the Defence Procurement Agency;
- the digitisation of processes within the Ministry of Defence, particularly with regard to the future launch of the DOT-Chain Defence platform;
- cooperation with international partners following the ‘Danish model’;
- the needs of Ukrainian manufacturers and their experience in attracting foreign investment.
‘Both civil society and international partners support changes in Ukraine’s defence sector, but we sometimes move independently of each other. Instead, we need to work together: share information and develop structured projects to help protect Ukraine and strengthen its defence capabilities. I therefore believe that the Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defence needs to be strengthened. Only in Ukraine is civil society permitted access to the defence sector and able to play a constructive role,’ emphasised NAKO Executive Director Olena Tregub in her speech.
Defence Procurement: The UAV Supply Example
The second panel included Maryna Bezrukova, former head of the DPA; Yaroslav Honchar, head of the Aerorozvidka NGO; Stanislav Gryshyn, co-founder of the drone manufacturer General Cherry; Nelly Stelmakh, a military officer and Defence Procurement Reform Project expert.
The discussion focused on trends in UAV production and use, as well as decentralised procurement to meet military units’ urgent needs. The panellists also continued the topic of digitising data collection directly from the battlefield and its subsequent use in procurement planning.
‘We need to realise that it is our plans that should be kept secret, not what we have purchased. The more transparency there is around procurement, the less corruption there should be. National security is everyone’s business and we cannot hide the expenditure of national resources behind a wall of secrecy,’ concluded Yaroslav Honchar, head of the Aerorozvidka NGO.
The Defence Talks are meetings where Ukrainian government representatives, high-ranking officials, representatives of the public sector, the diplomatic corps and the media discuss key trends and challenges in the security and defence sector.