Disruption of supplies to the front: why the army was left without chemical warmers in the bitter cold
9 February 12:07
The supplier “Private Logistics Operator” delayed the delivery of chemical warmers, which were supposed to arrive at the front in December 2025.
This is stated in a statement by the Defense Procurement Agency, reports "Komersant Ukrainian".
Earlier, journalist Yulia Kirienko-Merinova drew attention to the supply problem. According to her, the Defense Forces “received only a tiny percentage” of the total order.
“The result is dozens of frostbitten limbs in our soldiers, which are being amputated. This is a disability that could have been avoided. The loss of soldiers and the insufficient equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is a long-standing problem. It is an additional financial burden for the state, for treatment,” the journalist wrote.
The Public Anti-Corruption Council (PAC) under the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has published a statement on problems with the supply of chemical hand warmers for the military. According to the organization, the State Logistics Operator contracted for 600,000 warmers in 2025, despite the Logistics Forces’ stated need for 1.1 million units. A company that won one of the tenders without competition is responsible for the delivery of a batch of 300,000 units, which has been delayed for more than two months.
The Logistics Forces Command reported a need for 1.1 million chemical warmers at the beginning of last year. DOT held its first tender for 300,000 units in the spring of 2025: it was won by MIK, which delivered the order, according to GAR.
Subsequent purchases were made at the end of September. At that time, the tender was won by Private Logistics Operator LLC, which, according to the Council, is not a manufacturer and supplies products from ImexMax LLC under the Mamo trademark. The Anti-Corruption Council at the Ministry of Defense says that the company is a supplier only for DOT and “has only one small tender in another state-owned company.”
“In the autumn tenders, this company significantly reduced its price. If previously a hot water bottle cost 26 UAH without VAT, the company won the tender for 300,000 hot water bottles at a price of 18 UAH. The total savings for the DOT amounted to about 4 million UAH. However, the company delivered only 24,000 heaters – and in February 2026, not December 2025, as required by the contract,” explained the Public Anti-Corruption Council.
In November, there were no suppliers for the tender with an estimated cost at the level of previous purchases, and in the next tender, which DOT held two weeks later, Privatny Operator Tylu won without competition. The company offered a price of 17.4 hryvnia per set and won the tender without bidding.
“DOT signed a contract with the company, already knowing that it had failed to deliver under the previous contract,” according to the Anti-Corruption Council.
The Anti-Corruption Council reported that over the past two weeks, the Logistics Forces Command had been searching for warmers “across the entire front,” transferring them to various units and exhausting its stock of 350,000 units.
“Even if 76,000 warmers are delivered in the near future, as promised by the Defense Procurement Agency, this is only a third of the contracted volume. The worst thing is that there are not enough warmers on the market right now. And abnormal cold weather is expected again,” the Council said.
