What happened
Ukraine’s Defense Procurement Agency signed four contracts with Formtorg on October 9 to supply 1.82 million individual chemical heating kits for military personnel. The contracts are worth approximately UAH 63.4 million. Three lots were priced at UAH 34.98 per kit and the fourth at UAH 34.44. The contracts cover all four September procurement lots, including one transferred to Formtorg after Khimtech’s offer was rejected. Formtorg was registered on October 12, 2025, is wholly owned by Artem Mitrokhin and listed China’s Hebei Houde Hanfang Medical Devices Group as the manufacturer in its offer. The agency also required Formtorg to correct missing documents on its experience with comparable contracts.
Why it matters
The award creates a substantial procurement pathway for individual heating supplies after earlier heating-product contracts were terminated, disruptions that were linked to troops going without warmers and facing increased frostbite risks. The September tenders covered 617,850 kits in the largest lot and 400,000 in each of the other three. Prices reached UAH 34.98 per kit in three lots, up from UAH 30.54 in April and UAH 32.22 in August—a reported 14.5% increase from April to October. The tenders also applied a revised supplier-screening rule introduced in April 2026, extending guarantee requirements to terminated contracts for products from the specified manufacturer, not just contracts signed directly with the bidder. Khimtech was rejected in one lot after its statement about terminated contracts for Imex-Max products was found inaccurate, while Formtorg received the award.