The ballistics protection level four bullet proof vest made by Zaporizhia companies for the Ukrainian Armed Forces exceeds similar Russian one in quality, Director of Zaporizhia Voikov Tool Plant Oleksiy Lytvyn wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.

"Two events important for me occurred in December. We received new Russian gun bullets for tests from the Defense Ministry, a stupendous thing with a new technology for bullet forming. We also received new Russian improved protection armor from bulletproof vests… We used the new Russian bullet to fire at the Russian armor. A HOLE. Then we fired the same bullet at our armor from 10 meter distance. NO HOLE!" Lytvyn wrote.

He criticized the procurement procedure at the Defense Ministry, as it forced to quickly buy steel armor abroad using foreign currency, while a neighbor enterprise can produce similar products.

"At the beginning of the year we received information that bullet proof vests will not be bought this year. In November, the Defense Ministry bought bullet proof vests with a heavy bill. We were informed about this five days before the purchase, while steel is smelted for one and a half months. It takes one more month to make armor. Totally two and a half months," the top manager said.

He said that when the plant received the order from the Defense Ministry it had armor stock of 7% of the required volume to finish the order.

"The rest of armor was bought abroad. Not better than ours, but for foreign currency!!! We have no grounds for complains – we were "warned." I'm sure that only those who know about the tender in advance could have these specific products," he said.

As reported, Zaporizhia designed a bullet proof vest made at four enterprises: Dniprospetsstal, Zaporizhstal, Zaporizhia Voikov Tool Plant and Selena firm.

The cost of its manufacture does not exceed UAH 8,000.