Media reported that Zhumadilov may lobby for drone manufacturer General Chereshnia: company provided explanation
Drone manufacturer General Chereshnia has increased sales of drones under Defence Procurement Agency contracts tenfold. This happened when Arsen Zhumadilov became the head of the Defence Ministry's procurement organisation.
This was reported by Nashi Hroshi, Censor.NET informs.
The journalists noted that Zhumadilov's brother, a drone manufacturer, was connected to the organisation.
"The Unmanned Systems Research Centre company has suddenly become one of the favourites of the Defence Procurement Agency. According to Nashi Hroshi's source, in 2024, the Defence Procurement Agency contracted various drones under the General Chereshnya brand for a little over UAH 400 million. And in the first six months of this year, the volume of contracts increased tenfold to UAH 4.5 billion," the article says.
According to media reports, some of the military have positive impressions of the drones, while some other units consider this drone to be one of those that needs to be improved after delivery to the front. We're talking about replacing the performance characteristics, pilots, and control frequencies. This means the military has to modify the drones at its own expense.
"Also, the tenfold increase in purchases of this drone is significantly ahead of the overall market growth. As the Defence Procurement Agency told Nashi Hroshi, in the first half of 2025, the number of drones contracted was three times higher than in the whole of last year. And this is less than the rise of one manufacturer to 4.5 billion. And this is a very significant figure," the author writes.
The journalists pointed out that last year, when Maryna Bezrukova was the head of the Defence Agency, Yaroslav Hryshyn publicly criticised the Agency. However, after Arsen Zhumadilov was appointed as the head of the DPA, his rhetoric changed.
"Before joining the DPA, Arsen Zhumadilov headed another structure of the Ministry of Defence, the State Logistics Operator, which procures clothing, fuel, and food for the military. Stanislav Hryshyn, the brother of the owner of CDBS, is also a lawyer, and he was well acquainted with Zhumadilov. Last year, Stanislav, as a lawyer, represented the State Logistics Operator in a legal dispute with food suppliers.
And it is not just his brother who is the link between Zhumadilov's and Grishin's structures. Last year, Andriy Lavrenovych worked at SLO as the head of the HR and document management department. And at the end of January this year, he moved to become HR director at the Central Bureau of Defense Studies. It was in those days that the Ministry of Defence decided to appoint Zhumadilov as the head of DPA," the article says.
Response from General Chereshnia
The company, commenting on the information about the growth of the contract volume, noted that it could not comment on this information, as it was false and misleading. The company does not have accurate information on the number of orders of the DPA, as this data is classified as a state secret and endangers both the manufacturer and end users of the products.
"However, it is worth noting that the increase in the volume of contracts with the DPA in the first half of 2025 is due to the almost limited number of contracts with the DPA last year. The increase in contracts occurred gradually within the framework of the Agency's approved plans back in 2024. The first contracts we signed with the DPA were concluded at the end of November 2024, with extremely short delivery times (until mid-December 2024). Therefore, it would have been impossible to fulfil larger volumes of orders in such a short period.
The majority of our contracts to be executed in 2025 were agreed and initiated by the DPA under the leadership of Maryna Bezrukova in December 2024 - January 2025. According to the information we have, the requests for supply were sent at the end of 2024, but for reasons unknown to us, the previous management of the DPA did not have time to sign the relevant government contracts," they explained.
Over time, General Chereshnia noted, the company has expanded the range of codified goods, which has affected the possibility of increasing the total volume of supplies:
"Since we codify our products gradually, depending on the work of the Codification Commission under the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. Over time, we have expanded the range of codified goods, which has affected the possibility of increasing the total volume of supplies. It is impossible to supply drones that have not been codified under government orders."
The company noted that General Chereshnia has no overdue contracts with any customer, including the DPA.
"We also take on contracts without a prepayment, at our own financial risk. This makes us a convenient and reliable contractor for the state. We do not refuse such contracts because we are aware that the ability of the Defence Forces to destroy the occupiers depends on the regularity of supplies.
In general, the FPV drone market is growing rapidly, and the needs of military units for various modifications are growing exponentially. All quality manufacturers, without exception, whose products are in demand, are increasing their supply volumes from year to year," the company explained.
The company also commented on the statement by Nashi Hroshi that after the change of management of the PJSC, Grishin abruptly switched from criticising the DPA to a "positive and constructive tone".
They called the statement manipulative, as "last year's public statements about the DPA were objective and reasonable".
"The DPA had certain problems in terms of operational work, and they are really working to eliminate these problems. We act for a common goal - to improve processes and interaction between manufacturers and government agencies. Therefore, having enough competencies as a drone manufacturer, we are happy to share feedback that allows organisations to become better.
After the publication on UP, the approach of the DPA changed, and we and other UAV manufacturers were invited to have a constructive conversation. They also set up a project office, which significantly improved the interaction between the state customer and business, and began working to remove bureaucratic obstacles. This was written about in a column in your media, even under the previous leadership of the DPA," they said.
The company said that it was not aware of the reasons for the change in the management of the DPA, but after that the company felt changes in its work.
General Chereshnia also answered whether the fact that Stanislav Hryshyn previously provided legal assistance to the SLO and Andrii Lavrenovych was the head of the HR and document management department at the SLO had any impact on relations with the DPA.
"Neither Stanislav nor Andriy were involved in any management decisions, did not know and could not have known that the SLO would make any form of management decisions on the purchase of UAVs in the future," they replied.
Stanislav Hryshyn provided legal assistance to the SLO until May 2024 and "could not physically be involved in the state order in the field of UAVs, as he did not know and could not have known that the head of the SLO would be appointed to the relevant position in the SLO in the future".
Andrii Lavrenovych was the Director of the SLO and Head of the Human Resources Department. At the SLO and at the CBDS, he deals exclusively with personnel issues. He started his work at General Chereshnia on 22 January 2025, and the conclusion of state contracts between the DPA and General Chereshnia began in November 2024.
At the end of January, the Supervisory Board of the Defence Procurement Agency of the Ministry of Defence signed an additional agreement to the contract with the current director of the Defence Production Agency for a period of 1 year.
However, later on, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine Rustem Umerov stated that the Defence Procurement Agency had failed in its work over the past six months and announced the dismissal of his deputy Dmytro Klimenkov and the change of the Defence Procurement Agency's management.
Arsen Zhumadilov said that the problem with the Defence Procurement Agency had been discussed for a long time. Bezrukova failed to build a workforce
Subsequently, the head of the State Operator of the Logistics, Arsen Zhumadilov, confirmed that he would take up a second position - the head of the Defence Procurement Agency.
On 6 March 2025, the Ministry of Defence announced that Arsen Zhumadilov would take up the position of Director of the Defence Procurement Agency. He left his position at the State Defence Enterprise.
