The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has proposed that its budget for 2015 should be Hr 50 billion, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said.
“Last year’s budget was 15 billion [hryvnias] and 11 billion [hryvnias] from the reserve fund. The guaranteed budget for next year is 50 billion [hryvnias] – that is what the Defense Ministry proposes,” he said during his speech at the Verkhovna Rada on Friday.
He stated that it was planned to create new units, subunits and special operations forces, as well as operational commands to control the Armed Forces on a territorial basis.
It is proposed to allocate Hr 401 million for the modernization of military equipment and weapons, and Hr 6.45 billion for their purchase (including Hr 5.716 billion for supplies from domestic defense companies and Hr 1.74 billion for the purchase of imported military equipment).
“These [budget] costs are based on the fact that the strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has increased. Last year we had 130,000 servicemen, and now their number is 232,000. It is planned to increase the strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to 250,000 people,” Poltorak said.
