The Prime Minister of Ukraine deemed it ‘inexpedient’ to transfer funds earmarked for financing the telethon to the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has deemed it “impractical” to allocate funds from the budget intended for a telethon, which fewer and fewer Ukrainians trust, to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).

A petition suggesting that these funds would be better spent on purchasing drones and pickups for the AFU garnered the necessary 25 thousand votes. Shmyhal responded to it.

“Ensuring information security is part of the state policy in the field of national security and defense, and implementing a unified information policy is a priority issue of national security… Therefore, reallocating the expenses specified in the petition by directing them to the needs of other components of the security and defense sector is not expedient,” said the Prime Minister.

He added that the AFU is already financed by the government.

Recall that the recent scandal with the telethon is related to the reservation of its employees from mobilization. According to journalists, this is necessary to keep people at work amid problems with salary payments.

According to the results of a survey published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in early February 2024, the proportion of those who trust the telethon decreased to 36%, while the proportion of those who do not trust it increased to 47%.