KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine’s finance ministry plans to revise the 2025 budget to boost financing for defence, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on Thursday, as the war with Russia drives demand for more weapons, ammunition and funds to pay soldiers’ wages.
Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, reporting to parliament on the budget situation, said Ukraine needs to channel more funds to its armed forces, Zhelezniak said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukrainian parliamentary sessions are closed to the public, including to the media, for security reasons.
The 2025 budget currently allocates 2.23 trillion hryvnias ($53.7 billion) – about 26% of Ukraine’s gross domestic product – for defence spending.
Ukraine’s army is battling a much larger and better-equipped enemy along more than 1,000 kilometres of the frontline in a conflict now well into its fourth year.
Finance ministry data showed that Ukraine’s defence spending totalled 765 billion hryvnias ($18.4 billion) in the first four months of the year.
Government officials have said they plan to look for additional ways to increase domestic revenues by focusing on measures to reduce the shadow economy.
While the bulk of state revenues go to fund the Ukrainian army and domestic weapons production, Ukraine relies on financial aid from its Western allies to finance social and humanitarian spending.
Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has received about $133 billion in international financial support.
(Reporting by Olena HarmashEditing by Philippa Fletcher and Gareth Jones)
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