The Rada has strengthened the defense budget: how additional billions for the Armed Forces will be allocated
21 October 2025 16:23
ANALYSIS FROM 
On October 21, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported amendments to the state budget for 2025 and allocated an additional UAH 325 billion to support the defense sector. This was announced by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak on his Telegram channel, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
During the voting, 297 MPs pressed the green button. “Not a single MP voted against the bill. Sixteen MPs did not vote.
Zheleznyak also wrote that the parliamentarians also supported the instruction to the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada to immediately sign the bill and send it to the President for signature.
In addition, the MP added that in the morning the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance pressured the Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada to urgently support the changes to the state budget. In the end, the committee voted in favor of draft law No. 14103 as a basis and as a whole. Twenty-eight members voted in favor.
What exactly will the additional spending on the army be used for?
Minister of Defense Denys Shmyhal noted in his Telegram channel that
- more than UAH 156 billion will be spent on salaries and additional remuneration for military personnel;
- almost UAH 108 billion will be spent on logistics for military units, the purchase of weapons and ammunition, including drones, and support for the defense industry;
- the money will also be used to fulfill the state’s social obligations to the military and their families.
What the draft law says and why it is important for Ukraine
The draft law was submitted to parliament on October 6, 2025. It was initiated by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
According to her, the purpose of the changes is to quickly meet the needs related to repelling a full-scale Russian aggression and to increase the resilience of the defense system.
To balance the parameters of the budget, Svyrydenko proposed to increase budget revenues by UAH 20.046 billion and expand the financing of the general fund by debt operations by UAH 294.300 billion. As a result, the maximum budget deficit will increase by 3.5% and the maximum amount of public debt will increase by UAH 298.224 billion. The source of the debt will be external borrowings of the equivalent of EUR 6 billion under the EU’s exceptional macro-financial assistance program. The loan will be serviced and repaid at the expense of the proceeds from the immobilized Russian sovereign assets.
Expenditures on national security and defense are increased by UAH 324.746 billion: the general fund – by UAH 310.489 billion, including UAH 301.222 billion for the Ministry of Defense, and UAH 14.256 billion will be allocated to the special fund. The latter is formed, among other things, by a portion of the personal income tax on the salaries of military personnel, police officers, and rank-and-file and senior officers.
The funds are distributed as follows:
- uAH 210.9 billion – to the Armed Forces;
- uAH 99.1 billion – production and purchase of weapons and ammunition for the Armed Forces;
- uAH 8.1 billion – to the National Guard;
- uAH 4.3 billion for the purchase of drones by the State Special Communications Service;
- uAH 1.3 billion – for the Security Service of Ukraine;
- uAH 918 million for the State Special Transport Service;
- uAH 83 million for the State Border Guard Service;
- uAH 28.8 million – for the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine;
- uAH 8 million – for the SZR.
The document also provides for the possibility of sequestration of certain programs of the general fund and redirecting the saved funds to the Ministry of Defense for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (new Article 58). A reduction in general fund expenditures by UAH 959.7 million has already been announced based on the proposals of the spending units, as well as savings under the programs of public debt service (UAH 6.450 billion) and the fulfillment of state guarantees (UAH 2.990 billion).
Thus, expenditures are reduced:
- NABU – by UAH 320 million;
- Accounting Chamber – by UAH 253.5 million;
- HACC – by UAH 50 million;
- Office of the Prosecutor General – by UAH 55 million;
- BES – by UAH 49 million;
- The Ministry of Social Policy – by UAH 204 million;
- Ministry of Economy – by UAH 11 million;
- Ministry of Youth and Sports – by 14 million;
- NSDC – by 10 million;
- Luhansk Regional State Administration – by 0.7 million;
- Odesa Regional State Administration – by UAH 0.3 million.
The legal grounds for the changes are based on the Budget Code, the Law on the State Budget for 2025, and presidential decrees on martial law and urgent audit of public finances. In accordance with the CMU Regulations (§552).
The draft law does not require additional approval and anti-corruption expertise. The explanations state that the document does not affect the obligations in the field of European integration and does not contain discriminatory norms.
The expected result is an increase in financial resources for defense and security needs to counter Russian aggression while maintaining the formal budget balance through a combination of additional revenues, external borrowing and internal reallocation of expenditures.
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Draft Law on Increasing Defense Spending: Why it has been criticized
Despite the main goal of providing the military with uninterrupted cash payments, the document has already been criticized.
MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak noted that the increase in spending by UAH 300 billion in 2025 means that the budget for 2026 will provide hundreds of billions less money for the Armed Forces.
The government knew about the lack of money back in the summer. But then it remained silent. It is already clear that next year we will face exactly the same problem. I am not talking about where to get these 300 billion. I hope we convinced the Europeans,” he said.
However, the head of the Budget Committee, Roksolana Pidlasa, said that the UAH 294.3 billion in draft law No. 14103 is 6 billion euros of non-repayable EU aid in the format of ERA loans, which Ukraine does not have to return.
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