Defense Minister Shmyhal admitted that Ukraine cannot pay its soldiers as much as Russia does

Kyiv currently does not plan to raise the pay for mobilized soldiers to the level of salaries received by servicemen in the Russian army.

This was stated by Ukraine’s new Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal in an interview with the English-language outlet RBC-Ukraine.

According to Shmyhal, there simply isn’t enough money.

“As of today, everything Ukraine collects is given to its defenders. Ukraine collects around $50 billion in taxes. That’s our contribution as a state to the war. Russia’s war economy amounts to over $120 billion in spending. In order to hold the front line, we must spend no less than that. And if we want to win, we must spend even more,” he said.

“Out of that $120 billion, Ukraine contributes over $50 billion, while our partners provide another $60–70 billion. We also discussed this at the ‘Ramstein’ meeting — that next year Ukraine will need $60 billion from partners to finance its resistance to Russian aggression. But we pay military salaries from our own tax revenues. If we manage to collect more in taxes, we can pay higher salaries. For now, everything we collect is going to our troops,” the minister explained.

It’s worth noting that, at present, government officials in Ukraine earn salaries nearly three times higher than the national average.