Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has declared he won't sign the state budget for 2010 if it envisages defense spending of only UAH 8.3 billion.

"I will not sign the budget formed by the government for 2010, which projects the financing for the army at UAH 8.3 billion," the president said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"This is a budget that aims to wreck Ukraine's armed forces," the president said, adding that this level of financing discredits soldiers, officers and the state's defense functions.

Yuschenko stressed that he will demand that the government and the parliament revise the level of spending on Ukraine’s Armed Forces for 2010.