In Ukraine, the arms procurement chain is facing a scandal at a particularly delicate time, when American military support is being called into question. On Friday, January 24, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov engaged in a showdown with the hardliners in his ministry by refusing to extend the contract of the head of the Armaments Procurement Agency ("AOZ," in Ukrainian), Maryna Bezrukova, and calling for the resignation of one of his deputies, Dmytro Klimenkov, who Umerov fired on Tuesday. The minister himself immediately came under attack from members of the ministry and anti-corruption activists.

AOZ was created one year ago to eliminate shady middlemen from the defense sector and rid it of persistent networks of corruption, centralizing and rationalizing all arms purchases for the army, in response to the needs requested by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (FAU). The agency, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Defense but supervised by an independent adviser, plays a crucial role in the war effort by negotiating arms purchases directly with Ukrainian and international manufacturers.

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