Ukraine’s budget cannot cover even current military salaries — MP

Ukraine’s budget is short nearly one trillion hryvnias to pay existing military salaries — to say nothing of promised raises.

This was stated by Servant of the People party MP Bohdan Kytsak on the Novyny.LIVE television channel.

The program’s host recalled that according to the Ministry of Defense’s plans, the salary for troops in assault units was to amount to 300,000 hryvnias, with the maximum payment level planned at 460,000 hryvnias. She noted that she had not met a single servicemember receiving a salary under this new system. She asked whether the authorities intended to find the funds to pay such amounts in 2027.

“In June, a new financial support system for our servicemembers was announced, but it never came into effect. The money for this system was either not allocated or not properly calculated, and as of September the system is not working. Moreover, there is a deficit of nearly one trillion hryvnias that needs to be covered right now just to pay what is currently stipulated. We are not even talking about any kind of pay raise. We simply need to cover what exists right now,” — Kytsak said.

The MP added that the Ministry of Defense is working with the parliament’s relevant committee on how military salaries can realistically be increased.

The new financial support system for servicemembers was announced in June — during the period when Mykhailo Fedorov held the post of Minister of Defense. However, according to Kytsak, by September it had still not been launched.

The budget deficit problem is not limited to military payments. The Finance Minister stated that the budget deficit for 2027 already stands at EUR 32.6 billion — even though the year has not yet begun. Government officials have repeatedly spoken of a shortage of funds in the budget for the current year as well, including for the payment of military salaries.