Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko has called on Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to provide within two days the financing for Ukraine's Armed Forces as envisaged in the state budget.
He said this at a meeting with acting Defense Minister Valeriy Ivaschenko in Kyiv on Nov. 12.
"The premier should within two days provide maximum financing of the Ukrainian army, as it is envisaged in the budget," the president said.
Only Hr 7.3 billion out of Hr 12.8 billion allotted for the armed forces in 2009 have so far been disbursed, he said.
"This is the most disastrous financing of the armed forces since 1991," he said.
Nearly 2, 000 contract soldiers and 300 officers have left the armed forces over the past nine months because of lack of financing, he said.
The poor financing of the Ukrainian armed forces is "a serious process of the Ukrainian troops’ destruction," he said.
