The DOZORRO team recently analyzed vehicle procurement funded by the budget through Prozorro. From that study, Transparent Cities identified the types of vehicles procured by cities featured in the Transparency Ranking.
50 out of 100 city councils (only 115 procuring entities) procured non-specialized vehicles with budget funds in 2024. This involved 640 procurement transactions worth UAH 756 million. That amount does not include special vehicles such as ambulances, utility equipment (snowplows, garbage trucks), and similar. If we compare, in 2024, the National Police and its structural divisions procured nearly 1,800 vehicles at a total cost of UAH 2.2 billion.
The most active procuring city councils included Kryvyi Rih, Lviv, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, and Lutsk.
In total, UAH 8.1 billion was spent on the procurement of vehicles through Prozorro last year. For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the number of passenger cars procured for the Armed Forces of Ukraine exceeded the number of cars for civilian needs.
Half of the contract value was allocated to the procurement of pickups — 2,800 vehicles worth UAH 4 billion. They were mostly procured for the Defense Forces. Jeeps and pickups are the most popular vehicles at the front due to their large luggage compartments, which are essential for transporting all the necessary equipment for the war. This trend is also observed within local authorities, where about 72% of the total contracts involve pickups.
The Mitsubishi L200 was procured most often, with 146 units worth UAH 186.9 million. The highest number of these vehicles were procured in Vinnytsia and Lutsk, with 30 units for each city.
Toyota Hilux is another popular brand among city councils. Local authorities procured 102 Toyota Hiluxes for UAH 149.9 million. The most often those vehicles were procured in Lviv (50 items) and in Bila Tserkva (27 items).
Great Wall Wingle became the third most procured brand. 100 those cars were procured in Kryvyi Rih.
In addition to pickups, the cities also procured Renault Duster crossovers (67 items) and Renault Express vans (34 items). Among all procured cars, the Renault Duster was the most popular, with 28 units.
However, not all cities procure vehicles solely for military needs.
«Some city councils continue to procure expensive cars, the need for which is clearly questionable. For example, municipal enterprises in Vyshneve procured a Hyundai Staria for UAH 2.4 million and a Toyota Land Cruiser for UAH 1.9 million, while the municipal enterprises of Marhanets City Council procured two used Skoda Kodiaq vehicles for UAH 1.6 million and UAH 1.9 million. On the positive side, such procurements are more of an exception than a trend in 2024,» said Yaroslav Pylypenko, analyst of the DOZORRO project.
It is worth reminding that in the first year of the full-scale invasion, cars worth UAH 2.4 billion were procured through Prozorro. In the 2022 calendar year, the value of contracts was half of what it was in 2021 — UAH 1.8 billion compared to UAH 3.6 billion. In 2023, the cost of procured cars through Prozorro nearly returned to pre-war levels, reaching UAH 3.7 billion. In 2024, car procurement spending more than doubled.
For reference
The DOZORRO team has been monitoring car procurements through Prozorro since 2019, investigating how officials use our taxes to replenish fleets. Yaroslav Pylypenko, senior analyst of DOZORRO, and the team analyze procurements using the specific classification code 34110000-1 Passenger cars and relevant keywords. The sample excludes specific vehicles that fall under this classification, such as ambulances, snow and swamp vehicles for the State Emergency Service, and cash transit vans.