Odesa region is among the last in terms of spending on drones for the Armed Forces

Odesa and Mykolaiv regions are among the regions of Ukraine whose local authorities have spent the least on the purchase of drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of 2025.

The relevant data was published by experts of the Top Lead agency.

In particular, according to the agency's analysts, Mykolaiv region is the last in Ukraine - in the first quarter of 2025, it signed contracts for the purchase of drones for only UAH 1 million. For comparison, the neighboring Kherson region spent 35.2 million, and Zaporizhzhia, which is the leader in purchasing drones for the Armed Forces, spent 471.6 million hryvnias.

As for Odesa region, it shares the fourth position in the list of outsiders in drone procurement with Kirovohrad region, which also spent 2.9 million on drone procurement.

Zakarpattia is in second place from the bottom. Here, UAH 1.6 million was spent on drones for the Armed Forces in the first three months of 2025, and Ternopil region is in third place with UAH 2.1 million spent.

As for the leaders in procurement, in addition to Zaporizhzhia, they include: Rivne region - UAH 128.9 million, Lviv region - UAH 85.2 million, Kyiv region - UAH 81.7 million, and Volyn region - UAH 62.4 million.

In August 2024, the Center for Public Investigations analyzed all 30 contracts worth more than UAH 30 million that were concluded for the purchase of Mavic quadcopters of various models and configurations by institutions in Odesa, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions from May 1 to August 8. It turned out that the most expensive purchases of some drones were made in Odesa region, and the cheapest ones in Kherson region.

The most expensive drone was purchased by the department for the maintenance of municipal property of the Dachna village council in Odesa region. They paid UAH 218 thousand from the budget for one DJI Mavic 3T. And that was at a discount. The expected cost was 225 thousand hryvnias.

Кирило Бойко