Over the past year, fleet vehicles of budgetary institutions, as well as municipal and state-owned enterprises, have been updated not only on a planned basis — some had to restore what was destroyed by Russians or look for a replacement for cars that were transferred to the front line. Of course, not without unexpectedly expensive procurement transactions. So, we decided to comprehensively analyze how cars were purchased during the first year of the full-scale war.

For this study, we took data from Prozorro — downloaded a list of all available procurement transactions of passenger cars in the system, which were conducted from February 24, 2022, to February 24, 2023. However, we note that most likely, these are not all contracts for cars for that year. For some time, procuring entities had the right to sign contracts directly, without tenders — and report on it in the electronic system after the end of martial law.

We paid special attention to the procurement of cars more expensive than UAH 1 mln. But first, a bit of statistics.

A quarter of the cars were purchased by the National Police

Currently, information is publicly available on the procurement of 1,779 cars during the first year of the full-scale war. The amount of contracts is UAH 2.4 bln. These contracts cover all cars that fall under the sampling criteria; these are ambulances, cash-in-transit cars, special cars for law enforcement, and ordinary cars.

According to our estimates, the National Police and its regional units purchased the most cars — 487 cars for UAH 395 mln. That’s 27% of the total. Police bought a special car on the basis of both low-cost Renault Duster for UAH 700,000 and premium Toyota Land Cruiser Prado SUVs for UAH 1.8 mln, Opel Zafira minivans for UAH 2 mln, and Toyota Camry sedans for UAH 1.5 mln.

The state bank “Oschadbank” comes second — 204 cars for UAH 666 mln. In particular, JSC “Oschadbank” purchased cash-in-transit vehicles based on Ford Transit and cash-in-transit vehicles with panzer protection on the chassis of Ford Trucks.

Security police and its regional units come third — 175 cars for UAH 137 mln. Special purpose vehicles were also purchased:

In addition, the Security Police Department in Vinnytsia, Poltava, Odesa, and Lviv oblasts planned to purchase special purpose SUVs based on the Volkswagen Touareg at UAH 3 mln per car. However, due to publicity in the media, procurement was canceled. Thus, in Poltava and Lviv oblasts, the procurement was not completed due to the lack of further need, in Odesa oblast, the contract was terminated with the consent of the parties. In Vinnytsia oblast, the tender was canceled because of the reduction of costs.

Vehicles for the territorial defense and the Armed Forces

Some of the cars that are bought in Prozorro are for our defenders. Thus, the Department of Public Order and Civil Protection of the Dnipro City Council acquired 10 Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi L200 in November, in December — another 10 used Nissan Navara pickups. The Ladyzhyn City Council (Vinnytsia Oblast) bought a used Nissan X-Trail for the territorial defense. The Velyka Rublivka Village Council (Poltava Oblast) chose the used Volkswagen Multivan for the voluntary formation of the community. The Shepetivka City Council (Khmelnytskyi Oblast) purchased MERSEDES-BENZ SPRINTER 312 and Renault Master within the framework of the Program of Measures of National Resistance of the Shepetivka City Territorial Community for 2022.

It is difficult to say how many of the 1,800 purchased cars were given to the military — not all procuring entities specify this purpose of the procurement.  In addition, many public buyers gave the soldiers the cars that they had already had, and now they are gradually restoring the fleets.

The most expensive cars of the first year of the full-scale war

We decided to divide them into two groups:

  • the most expensive cars;
  • luxury models, which were bought most often.

Which cars cost the most?

 

  1. The armored Toyota Land Cruiser 200

The most expensive car was an armored SUV for the SE “Naftogazbezpeka.” The car was purchased for EUR 156,000, which at the exchange rate on the date of purchase was equal to UAH 4.56 mln. This is not the only Toyota Land Cruiser 200 that Naftogazbezpeka bought — there are six more such cars assembled in Austria in the contract, but at a price from EUR 125,000 to 142,000. All 7 cars are white or pearl white, 2014-2017 year of release. They have diesel engines, 5 — manual transmission, and 2 — automatic. The machines were supplied by Naftogaz Trading Europe AG, a Swiss subsidiary of Naftogaz.

 

Naftogaz responded to a request from Ekonomichna Pravda that SE Naftogazbezpeka provided security for the facilities of the company’s founder (i.e., the government), legal entities of the Naftogaz Group, and other facilities of the oil and gas complex. Therefore, there was a need for such vehicles.

 

Another Toyota Land Cruiser 200 in the maximum configuration Executive Lounge for UAH 3.3 mln was acquired by the Executive Committee of the Myrnohrad City Council (Donetsk Oblast). As noted on Prozorro, the car was bought for “measures and works on the territorial defense of the Myrnohrad city territorial community in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

 

  1. Volkswagen T6.1 Multivan

PJSC “JSB UKRGASBANK” acquired Volkswagen T6.1 Multivan for UAH 3.1 mln in August 2022. Since the contract published on Prozorro does not have a detailed specification, it is impossible to determine exactly what is included in the configuration at such a price. The specification only states that the car was produced in 2021, it has an all-wheel drive and a leather interior.

 

  1. Hyundai IONIQ 5

The Deposit Guarantee Fund purchased an electric car for a little more than UAH 2.3 mln in September 2022. Together with a set of winter tires, tinted windows, mats in the cabin and trunk, as well as a set of fire extinguisher, first aid kit, cable and emergency stop sign, the amount of the contract was almost UAH 2.9 mln.

 

This model was recognized as the International Car of the Year 2022 (World Car of the Year 2022).

 

  1. Toyota Highlander

SE “Drohobych Forestry” acquired the SUV for UAH 2.3 mln.  The car has a 3.5-liter petrol engine, 8-speed automatic transmission, leather interior, 3 rows of seats, Toyota Touch 2 multimedia system with a color multifunction touch screen with a diagonal of 8.0″ and JBL acoustic system (amplifier, 11 speakers, with subwoofer).

 

Among the forestries, Toyota SUVs were bought by SE “Brusturianske forestry.” The model was cheaper — two Toyota Hilux Legend UAH 1.6 mln each. One such pickup was purchased in June, the other in August.

 

 

  1. Opel Zafira

A specialized car based on the 2022 Opel Zafira was urgently purchased by the Main Directorate of the National Police in Lviv Oblast in December. The car cost UAH 2 mln.  It is impossible to say exactly what kind of specialized equipment was added to the car — in the contract, the corresponding row of the table with technical characteristics is empty.

The most popular expensive cars

 

The “most popular part in this case is relative because expensive cars were not purchased in hundreds. For example, more than 1,500 cheaper cars were bought for UAH 1.6 bln. Cases of luxury cars are rarer — we counted 150 cars, which cost more than a million hryvnias. There are at least 40 models. There are cars that are a little more common than others.

THE MOST POPULAR EXPENSIVE CARS IN PROZORRO DURING THE WAR

 

Skoda Karoq – 13 cars

Depending on the configuration, the cost of Skoda Karoq was UAH 1.1–1.2 mln. It was purchased by:

  • Main Directorate of the National Police in Khmelnytskyi Oblast — 4 cars;
  • Main Directorate of the National Police in Vinnytsia Oblast — 3 cars;
  • State Fire and Rescue Detachment of SES in Mykolaiv Oblast — 6 cars (first, second, third tenders).

 

Mitsubishi L200 — 11 cars

This model cost in the range of UAH 1.4–2.2 mln. It was purchased by:

 

Skoda Octavia — 10 cars

The cost of Skoda Octavia, which was purchased on Prozorro, was UAH 1-1.3 mln. This model was purchased by:

  • Security Police Department in Poltava Oblast — 1 car in the most expensive configuration, UAH 1.3 mln;
  • Main Directorate of the National Police in Kharkiv Oblast — 3 cars for UAH 1 mln. 

 

Toyota Land Cruiser Prado — 8 cars

The price of such SUVs on Prozorro ranged from UAH 1.5 to. 2.1 mln. They were purchased by:

  • Ladyzhyn City Council, within the framework of the “comprehensive law enforcement program in Ladyzhyn for 2020-2024” — it was the cheapest Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, a used 2017 SUV for UAH 1.5 mln.
  • Non-Profit Municipal Enterprise “Brovary Multi-Field Clinical Hospital” of territorial communities of Brovary district of Kyiv Oblast — a specialized ambulance based on Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150 for UAH 1.5 mln. The car is additionally equipped, in particular, with a stretcher, a sheet / mattress for carrying / transporting, a long back board with a head immobilization device and seat belts for adults, a portable oxygen cylinder, an emergency bag.
  • Separate commandant’s office of protection and support of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine — 4 special purpose vehicles with a built-in radio station for UAH 2.1 mln.
  • Main Directorate of the National Police in Zaporizhzhia Oblast — 1 car for UAH 1.8 mln.
  • Main Directorate of the National Police in Volyn Oblast — 1 car for UAH 1.8 mln.

 

Among the more common models were also those mentioned earlier Toyota Land Cruiser 200 (8), Toyota RAV4 (7), Skoda Kodiaq (6), Hyundai Staria (5), Skoda Superb (5), Hyundai Tucson (5). There were also 12 Fiat Ducato, which cost more than a million — but this is a brigade bus, not a premium car, so we did not detail such procurement transactions.

 

Expensive cars, like any other luxury goods, remain a sensitive issue when it comes to public funds. And public control is always an important precaution so that the money is not spent on someone’s personal whims. Previous stories, when procurement of luxury cars was canceled because of publicity, only confirm this.

 

Therefore, if you see such a suspicious tender, we urge you to contact the procuring entity. If it is justified, procuring entities will simply explain their choice. And if not — you should write on social networks or to journalists; thus, you will help achieve effective use of public money.

 

This publication was prepared with the financial support of the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.