Defense Procurement Agency Tripled Armament Budget to 1.7 Trillion UAH: Zhumadilov Reveals Record Drone Deliveries Before Resignation

At a press conference, the head of the Defense Procurement Agency (AOZ DOT) Arsen Zhumadilov presented key performance indicators for the agency over the past year. According to him, the financial resources for purchasing weapons and military equipment grew almost threefold over the year, while international financing increased 16 times. The statement was made against the backdrop of Zhumadilov having previously submitted his resignation, with his last working day as head of the agency named as August 31, 2026.

Financial Turnaround: Armament Resources Grow Nearly Threefold

According to Zhumadilov, if the funding for weapons and military equipment in 2025 was 633.3 billion UAH, the allocated resources for 2026 reached 1.717 trillion UAH. This corresponds to growth of approximately 2.7 times. The head of the agency emphasized that it was precisely the increase in procurement resources that allowed scaling the delivery of lethal nomenclature and ensuring the continuity of supply to the Defense Forces under combat conditions.

International Financing: 16-Fold Growth as an Indicator of Trust

Separately, Zhumadilov highlighted the dynamics of foreign support, calling it a sign of partners' trust. According to his assessment, international financing compared to the beginning of 2025 grew 16 times. Among the sources, he named European mechanisms, the UNITED24 platform, bilateral mechanisms, as well as the European Union loan. However, the absolute amounts of foreign financing were not disclosed during the speech—only the multiple of growth was announced.

Scale of Drone Deliveries: First Half of 2026 vs. Full Year 2025

In the first half of 2026, according to AOZ data, the army received 2,470,288 FPV drones, of which 341,644 were standard (without fiber optics) and 121,228 were multirotor drones. For comparison: for the entire year of 2025, 2,197,857 FPV and 98,716 multirotor drones were delivered, while in 2024 it was 341,644 and 38,778 respectively. Thus, the volume of drone deliveries for six months of 2026 has already exceeded the indicator for the entire previous year.

Dot-Chain Defence: Record 98% and Logistics Within 24 Hours

As a result of the second quarter of 2026, AOZ ensured the continuity of deliveries of lethal nomenclature: the annual plan was fulfilled by 63% for FPV drones, 69% for ammunition, 96% for equipment, and 88% for UAVs. The highest indicator—98%—was recorded within the framework of the Dot-Chain Defence program, where the customer for weapons is the military. Within the framework of the program, more than 1.2 million units (including e-points) were delivered, 486 combat units were connected to the system, the average delivery time is about nine days, and the record delivery was carried out within one day. The program also covered the National Guard, SBU, and National Police.

Contradictory Data

When checking the figures, two nuances requiring caveats were identified. First, in the formulations of the head of the agency, the expressions "almost three times" and the exact "approximately 2.7 times" coexist—this is an acceptable rounding, but in publications one should rely on the calculated value of 2.7. Second, the figure 341,644 appears in two different contexts: as the number of "standard FPV without fiber optics" in the first half of 2026 and as the total number of FPV delivered in 2024. The coincidence of values in such different slices looks suspicious and may indicate a typo in the source material; therefore, both figures are cited strictly according to the primary text without correction and require additional verification.

Context: Resignation of the Agency Head and Rumor Refutation

Zhumadilov's speech coincided with his departure from office: previously he submitted his resignation, and his last working day is named as August 31, 2026. In the same context, the agency refers to his refutation of rumors about internal confrontation with another head—Fedorov—stating that "there was no conflict." Thus, the presented indicators became the final report of the acting management of AOZ DOT before the change of head.