The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is preparing to submit to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law on increasing defense expenditures by at least 200 billion hryvnias. The goal is to ensure the financing of cash payments to military personnel at the end of the current year. About this reported People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
“Already as of mid-May, it is obvious that the planned expenditures for the army are not enough and the need will be greater. Somewhere now by 200 billion hryvnias.” – the message says.
Voting for the government draft law must be held already in June, since the session schedule involves long breaks in the summer. This could make it difficult to make timely changes to the state budget and jeopardize payments to the military in the fall of 2025.
The current initiative to increase funding will likely not be the last for the year. By the end of 2025, there may be a need for another increase in spending, but the exact amounts have not yet been determined. The increase in financing needs is due to the fact that the Ministry of Defense practices approximation of expenditures: at the beginning of the year, the funds set aside for the end of the year for payments to the military and directed to the purchase of weapons were already used.
If the changes to the budget are not approved, the government will not be able to make cash payments to the military already in the fall. This convergence of expenditures is taking place within the framework of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, which at the end of 2024 provided for the acceleration of purchases of weapons and ammunition due to the risks associated with a possible delay in defense assistance from the United States.
