Payments to Ukrainian military lowest in almost a year

Government spending on military salaries in March 2023 decreased to UAH 67.3 billion, the lowest figure since July 2022, Ukraine’s ministry of finance announced on Tuesday.

In January 2023, the Ukrainian military received UAH 71.8 billion in salaries, and in February, UAH 76.9 billion, official data suggests.

Budget expenditures for weapons and defence products for Ukraine’s Armed Forces also slightly decreased in March, to UAH 34.4 billion, compared to UAH 41.9 billion in February. In January, however, they were even lower, at UAH 28.7 billion.

In total, Ukraine’s government expenditures totalled UAH 225.2 billion in March.

Since the beginning of the year, cash expenditures of the general fund of the state budget have amounted to UAH 636.3 billion, of which 34 percent has been put aside for military salaries, and another 16 percent for support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in terms of purchasing military equipment, weapons, ammunition, defence products, and personal protective equipment.

Since February 2023, a UAH 30,000 bonus for Ukraine’s military and law enforcement, introduced at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, has been cancelled.