Ukraine faces defence funding shortfall

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry estimates that defence spending will need to rise to $175 billion in 2027, up from $155 billion this year, UNIAN reports.

But the government’s draft state budget currently allocates only $100 billion for defence, First Deputy Finance Minister Roman Yermolichev said.

He said the Finance Ministry had significantly changed its approach to planning defence spending for 2027 compared with previous years, when initial allocations were set below the required level.

The funding gap for the Defence Ministry’s $155 billion requirement for the war in 2026 had until recently been estimated at $27 billion.

Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky and the Finance Ministry said $7 billion, or about 300 billion hryvnias, had since been found through domestic resources, including the Finance Ministry’s Reserve Fund.

By Aghakazim Guliyev