People's deputy of Ukraine from the "Voice" party Yaroslav Zheleznyak said that the Ukrainian budget does not have money to provide for half a million mobilized people. The politician said this in an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda.
The MP said that the draft law on mobilization does not specify the figure of half a million people, but, in any case, Ukraine does not have such a large amount of money.
"Is there money to mobilize an additional 500,000 people to the army here and now? No," he said.
According to the official, this year's military budget amounted to 1.9 trillion hryvnias, while the amount for 2024 is 1.6 trillion.
"Minus 300 billion that we will be looking for. This math already leads us to the conclusion that there is not enough money for the current number and needs of the army," he explained.
Zheleznyak added that about 580 billion hryvnias are needed to provide for a half-million troops. This money will be spent on the part of Ukraine's budget that is formed from domestic revenues.
"Unfortunately, we will not be able to find such money. We provide the army with our own money from domestic revenues - taxes, customs, some privatization and several hundred million dollars from Norway. All other international partners do not finance military spending," says Zheleznyak.
