Mykhailo Fedorov: Ukraine moves drone procurement to tender procedures

Ukraine’s Minister of Defence Mykhailo Fedorov said during a meeting with journalists on 16 May that the government plans to shift defence procurement to tender-based procedures over the course of summer 2026. The goal is to reduce corruption risks in state defence procurement.

Fedorov noted that the government has already conducted a competitive procurement process for long-range 155 mm artillery shells and achieved savings of more than 16%. According to him, the next step will be introducing tenders for drone procurement.

“Our task is to build a transparent, competitive and fast procurement system without corruption risks,” the minister said. According to Fedorov, the ministry is also launching a number of anti-corruption reforms, particularly in the fields of research and development and state quality assurance.

The minister added that the ministry is also introducing a baseline guaranteed supply of drones for brigades. “We need every unit to understand the minimum amount of equipment it is guaranteed to receive next month in order to plan operations and workflows,” Fedorov explained.