Shmyhal: Ukraine pays military salaries exclusively from its own taxes

Ukraine finances military salaries entirely at the expense of tax revenues to the state budget. This was stated by the Minister of Defense Denis Shmyhal in an interview with to the Ukrainian service of the British BBC News.

"As of today, everything that Ukraine collects, it gives to its defenders. Today, Ukraine collects about $50 billion in taxes. And this is our contribution as a state to the war. The war economy is $120+ billion that Russia spends," Shmyhal said.

According to him, Ukraine should spend no less to keep the front line.

"If we want to win, we have to spend more. Out of the $120 billion, Ukraine provides 50 plus, and our partners provide 60-70. We talked about this at the Ramstein meeting, too, that next year Ukraine will need $60 billion from its partners to finance the countering of Russian aggression. But. Ukraine pays for the salaries of its military from its taxes," explained Shmyhal.

He added that if Ukraine is able to collect more taxes, it will be able to pay higher salaries to the military.

"As of today, we are giving everything we raise to our military," the minister emphasized.

• In April 2024 The Cabinet of Ministers approved additional UAH 70,000 for the military for every 30 days "at zero".
• on July 25, 2025, it became known that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to appeal to European partners with a request to help finance the increase of the salaries of the Ukrainian military.