A company with no production experience and a history of losses won defense contracts worth 500 million hryvnias, despite auditors' doubts. So, Lider-NTZ.
The Defense Procurement Agency announced a tender for combat ballistic helmets for the front, valued at a quarter of a billion hryvnia. The winner was a company that, just a year ago, had nothing to do with ammunition production—it leased property and manufactured fabrics. Journalists analyzed documents related to Lider-NTZ LLC and uncovered a number of inconsistencies, from dubious proof of experience to financial statements in which income allegedly "appeared" before the relevant agreement was signed.
More details in the investigation by Stop Corruption TV.
This is not the first alarming story in the defense procurement market.
The Lider-NTZ story is not an isolated incident. Journalists have long been monitoring defense tenders, winners, and contracts, paying attention not only to the amounts involved but also to who receives state funding during the war.
At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, when the front was in dire need of body armor, helmets, thermal imagers, sights, and drones, the state transferred a significant advance to Thanos Technology, a company belonging to the group of companies owned by German Nazarenko, the son-in-law of former MP Yuriy Bereza. However, according to investigators, the equipment was never delivered, and the funds essentially disappeared. As journalist Kirill Volny reported , investigators believe that between March and May 2022, the company's director, Mykola Petrenko, embezzled approximately 20 million hryvnias, which were transferred to several individual entrepreneurs, ostensibly for legal consulting services. The scam was documented by the State Financial Monitoring Service, which points to probable money laundering: some of the money was transferred abroad, while approximately 50 million hryvnias were laundered in Ukraine, likely as kickbacks to officials.
Problems were also reported with the procurement of body armor. Well-known manufacturers such as Temp-3000, KhZIZ, UkrTak, and others have long operated in this market. However, some tenders failed to produce results, and the Department of Defense Technologies (DOT) began entering into direct contracts with individual suppliers, ostensibly to quickly meet the troops' needs. According to Igor Khmuryi's investigation , none of the companies with which direct contracts were concluded managed to fulfill their obligations on time, despite the DOT citing urgency as the primary supplier selection criterion. A separate issue concerns APK Invest Prom, a company that had not previously manufactured body armor and lacked in-house production facilities or relevant experience in public procurement. Despite this, DOT ordered 10 body armor vests from the company without a competitive bidding process. The army never received a single one; the contract was ultimately terminated.
In 2025, the State Defense Committee signed a contract worth over 217 million hryvnias with the company MILIKON UA. Delivery was officially on time, but during acceptance inspection, it was discovered that some of the body armor did not meet quality requirements—military personnel refused to sign the acceptance certificates. The situation subsequently escalated into a major scandal after recordings were published in which businessman Timur Mindich allegedly asked then-Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to facilitate the acceptance of the products. The contract was ultimately terminated, and the Kyiv Commercial Court ordered MILIKON UA to pay over 97 million hryvnias in penalties.
It would seem that after these stories, the state should have drawn conclusions. But 2026 brought a new hero of defense procurement: Lider-NTZ, whose total contract value has already exceeded half a billion hryvnias.
Lider-NTZ. A company with no history in ammunition production.
According to YouControl data , until recently the company's main activities included real estate leasing (KVED 68.20), weaving (13.20), textile finishing (13.30), finished textile manufacturing (13.92), and ceramic manufacturing (2). In November 2025, the company was essentially "reorganized": its name, line of business, and owners were changed.
The company is managed by Oksana Markovskaya. She has no declaration of assets, indicating that she most likely was not an official.
Director and founders of Lider-NTZ: Oksana Markovskaya, Ksenia Belaya, David Mirotadze
Among the founders is Ksenia Bila, a Kyiv resident, for whom Lider-NTZ is the only company listed in public registries. The ultimate beneficiary, with a 40% stake, is David Mirotadze, an entrepreneur with assets in the occupied Donbas and who previously headed and founded MKI GROUP LLC and TKACHIN 2023 LLC.
Another founder is Andriy Olari, a resident of Luhansk, with a 20% stake. Journalists discovered from his declaration that a man with that surname worked at the Volyn Customs Office of the State Fiscal Service as the chief state inspector-dog handler and earned over 80,000 hryvnias in salary in 2019. Meanwhile, several years prior, according to the declarations, the family had $10,000 and 250,000 hryvnias under their pillows, and 11,000 euros and 100,000 hryvnias in their accounts—amounts that are inconsistent with the customs officer's income. His wife declared 300,000 hryvnias in cash, while officially earning a salary of approximately 3400 hryvnias in 2016 at the private company Megaton. Furthermore, the family lived for years in an apartment legally owned by someone else—a practice often used by government employees to avoid declaring their own assets.
The company's financial performance was also unimpressive. According to Opendatabot, Lider-NTZ (then a fabric manufacturer) posted a loss of 152 hryvnias in 2020, 262 hryvnias in 2022, 110 hryvnias in 2023, and almost 3 hryvnias in 2024. In other words, a company that hadn't even been able to break even for years found itself competing for contracts worth almost half a billion hryvnias within a few months.
The damage to Lider-NTZ in 2020 was 152 thousand UAH (data from Lider-NTZ pendatabot)
Lider-NTZ. Last-minute permits
The production of personal protective equipment requires separate permits. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs' licensing registry , Lider-NTZ received two permits for its production facility and store at 104 Soborna Street, Irpin, Bucha District, Kyiv Oblast. The licensing file notes:
On December 9, 2025, Lider-NTZ Limited Liability Company received permission to open a facility under the permitting system for the production and sale of special personal protective equipment.
According to the Unified Register of Weapons, the company received permission to operate a facility at the same address only on January 6, 2026.
Journalists also contacted the State Labor Service to find out whether the company required a permit for such production. The agency's response explained that the production or processing of military-grade personal protective equipment is not included in the list of high-risk jobs, and therefore the State Labor Service does not issue a separate "license for armor production." However, if a company uses hazardous equipment or performs high-risk jobs, a permit is still required. Furthermore, the State Labor Service reported that the agency did not conduct any inspections of Lider-NTZ from 2023 to June 2026. Therefore, the equipment used and the conditions under which the company actually manufactured its products remain unknown.
Three contracts worth half a billion
Despite the lack of a production history, the state awarded three contracts to Lider-NTZ. The first, registered on Prozorro , is for the supply of 40 full-size ballistic helmets worth almost 296 million hryvnias, with the first batch to be delivered in late June 2026 and full completion by the end of November. Among the key requirements in the tender documentation, one caught the attention of journalists:
"The participant in the proposal must provide documents confirming experience in implementing a similar contract over the past three years with a total volume of at least 30% of the expected purchase price."
Lider-NTZ: How a company with no experience or production received defense contracts worth almost 500 million
Lider-NTZ confirmed its viability through a cooperation agreement with Alliance Ideal Transport Company, dated November 2025—a period when, according to available information, the company did not yet have a full package of permits for its core business. A logical question arises: where did this "similar experience" worth tens of millions come from if the company was not yet fully capable of operating as a manufacturer or seller of special equipment?
Based on the results of monitoring this procurement, the State Audit Service of Ukraine noted in its conclusion:
"There is a risk that a participant in LIDER-NTZ LLC may provide false documents based on experience in implementing similar contracts. This, in turn, may lead to risks of delays in fulfilling contract terms, in particular, actual completion within specified deadlines and the delivery of substandard goods purchased for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during military rule."
Lider-NTZ: How a company with no experience or production received defense contracts worth almost 500 million
Leader-NTZ. Income "from the future"
The signs of inaccuracy don't end there. Lider-NTZ's financial report for the first nine months of 2025 lists net income of over 103 million hryvnias. However, the same document lists the company's average headcount as just two, and its primary activity as the production of workwear.
The documents used by the company to confirm this transaction, according to journalists—the contract and invoices—are dated November, meaning the fourth quarter of 2025. This raises the question: how did the income from the transaction, as documented, end up in the financial statements for the first nine months of the year?
The counterparty itself, TC "Alliance Ideal," raises additional questions. According to YouControl , this company is an importer and manufacturer of polyethylene film and has not previously engaged in any activity involving the purchase or sale of personal protective equipment.
Journalists contacted the Ministry of Defense to find out how the first helmet contract had been fulfilled. The ministry reported:
"Under a government contract concluded with Lider NTZ LLC for the supply of full-size ballistic helmets, the Supplier shipped 1000 units. Due to the fact that the deadlines stipulated by the government contract have been exceeded, penalties will be imposed on the Supplier. However, full-size helmets are not provided, and therefore, no payment was made. The contract terms provide for cash on delivery."
In addition to the helmet tender, Lider-NTZ won two other auctions for bulletproof vests—one for 32 million hryvnias, and another for nearly 150 million hryvnias. In total, the company, with no experience or production capacity, had the opportunity to earn almost half a billion hryvnias in government contracts.
The position of the Ministry of Defense: "formally there are no violations"
In response to journalists' inquiries, the Ministry of Defense and the Defense Procurement Agency stated that the procedure was conducted within the rules: the procurement was simplified, so even a single bidder does not constitute a violation. Lider-NTZ's experience was confirmed by the same contract with Alliance Ideal Transport Company, which raised questions about the dates, financial reporting, and the feasibility of the operation itself—but the Ministry of Defense, according to journalists, did not ask such questions. Regarding the license, which was received practically on the eve of the contract, the Agency responded that the conditions for announcing the license issuance date are not stipulated:
“Conducting an inspection of the actual execution of the contract between LIDER-NTZ LLC and TK ALLIANCE IDEAL LLC... is beyond the authority and competence of the Enterprise.”
“The terms of the Announcement do not contain any requirements regarding the date of issue of licenses.”
According to journalists, defense ministry representatives inspected the company's production facilities only after the contract was signed. The first batch of 10 helmets was supposed to be delivered by June 30—meaning the company was expected to establish industrial-scale production and delivery less than six weeks after the deadline, despite its lack of relevant experience and limited staff.
Journalists sent two inquiries to the Defense Procurement Agency, but have not yet received a response.
Comments from beneficiaries
While preparing this article, journalists managed to reach one of the company's beneficiaries, Andriy Olar. When asked about his participation in tenders, he stated that he was merely a beneficiary, and that the person in charge was Director Oksana Markovskaya, whom he advised journalists to contact. When asked about his responsibilities as a beneficiary, Olar asked if this was an interrogation, and when asked about his previous work at the Volyn Customs Office, he declined to answer, advising journalists to come in person for an interview.
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Journalists also reached David Mirotadze by phone. When asked how the income from the operation, documented in the fourth quarter, ended up in the first nine months' reports, and whether the contract with Alliance Ideal TC was actually fulfilled, or whether it merely served as proof of experience, Mirotadze replied that he wasn't prepared to answer these questions immediately and would ask again if necessary.
An official request to Lider-NTZ LLC addressed to Director Oksana Markovskaya, as well as a list of questions sent to David Mirotadze, remain unanswered. Journalists continue to monitor developments surrounding the company's contracts.
Skelet.Org
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Leader-NTZ
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