Artem Romaniukov has become Acting Director of the Defence Procurement Agency from 1 September. He previously served as the DPA’s Director of Development, the Agency reported.
“Artem Romaniukov has significant experience in defence procurement and public administration. Previously, he headed the Procurement Policy Department of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and served as Deputy Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine,” the post says.
The Ministry of Defence explained that Romaniukov’s tasks include continuing the shift of defence procurement to tenders, digitising the mechanisms that require it, and anti-corruption work.
As Taras Chmut, a member of the Agency’s Supervisory Board, noted, the decision was taken “after his project was approved by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine in accordance with the DPA’s Charter”.
He added that Artem Romaniukov is an officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a combat veteran who served in the 15th Separate Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade “Black Forest”.
The competition to select and appoint a permanent head of the Agency is planned to be completed by 2026.
By then, the DPA Supervisory Board must also fill two vacancies for independent board members.
“The selection process is coordinated by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine with the involvement of a professional recruitment partner (Friisberg & Partners International) and the DPA Supervisory Board’s Appointments and Remuneration Committee,” the post said.
- On 31 August, the Agency’s previous head, Arsen Zhumadilov, stepped down. He had led it since March 2025, and before that—since 2023—headed the State Rear Operator.
- On 1 January 2026, the two agencies were merged into one.
Read alsoThe State Rear Operator’s merger into the Defence Procurement Agency: how, why and when it will happen — key takeaways from the briefing
According to Zhumadilov, one thing he did not have time to complete in his role was work with manufacturers around arms exports—specifically, how to avoid manipulation by some manufacturers, as the former Agency head put it, over unsigned contracts in order to gain access to foreign markets.
“We proposed a model that should take into account the value, or the number of units, that a given company supplied during a particular reporting period in the interests of the Defence Forces, and on the basis of that value to form that manufacturer’s export quota—that’s the first point. And second, we should take into account whether there is demand for this product on DOT-Chain Defence and on other platforms. As of today, the proposal is under consideration; how it will move forward, I don’t know,” Zhumadilov explained on 20 August at a meeting with journalists.
The second concept proposed by his team is reimbursement for service members’ clothing and equipment—giving them the right to choose clothing themselves within a set budget. The digital solutions needed to implement this, he says, are not difficult to roll out.
And third: a single window for collecting feedback.
“Here we need to synchronise with the Army+ app and with cloud-based qualified electronic signatures. There is a certain technical detail that currently makes it impossible for us to communicate directly with all service members. But we have also developed the full solution,” Zhumadilov noted.