What about Ukraine's domestic defense production? A chat with Ukraine's head of the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA)

There's alot of talk about Western military support to Ukraine, but what about Ukraine's own capabilities?To discuss that, I had on the show Arsen Zhumadilov, the head of the Defense Procurement Agency. Arsen discussed some critical developments in Ukraine's ability to defend itself - with a particular focus on drones - while focusing on how the process works in terms of getting Ukrainian-produced military equipment from the producers to the appropriate brigade at the front. We also talked about the latest procurement innovation in the DOT-Chain Defense, which serves almost as an Amazon marketplace for brigades seeking drones for the fight. Arsen Zhumadilov, In March 2025, he was appointed Director of the Defense Procurement Agency, and on May 2, 2025, he was appointed Chairman of the Commission for the Reorganization of the State Logistics Operator. Public administrator, Crimean Tatar public figure, senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He has extensive experience in building state institutions and reforming public procurement.In April 2023, he headed the defense procurement reform team within the Office of Change Support at the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. From 2019 to 2023, he served as Director General of the State Enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine. From October 2023 to March 2024, he headed the State Enterprise “State Logistics Operator”.Arsen has several higher education degrees. He graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a Master of Laws and a Master of Political Science. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and Management from the London School of Economics (UK). He also holds an Executive MBA from Kyiv Mohyla Business School. To connect and message with Mark on LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mcnamee-58950910 To learn more, visit:https://ubn.network/ Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:https://missionmatters.com/author/Mark-McNamee/ If you found this episode valuable, follow the podcast and share it with someone who wants to better understand the war in Ukraine.