Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved changes to the 2025 state budget to raise mostly non-military expenditures by Hr.41.3 billion ($992.8 million) on Wednesday.
The extra funding, with 229 votes in favor, will go toward the reserve fund, digital transformation, school, medicines, veterans support, housing for displaced persons and further needs.
Ukraine is forced to revise the 2025 budget as Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion has made planned funds insufficient to cover growing needs.
The government balanced the new spending by cutting Hr.33.6 billion ($807.7 million) from debt servicing. The state budget’s general fund will also receive Hr.8 billion ($198.3 million) in bank profit tax revenues that had been previously designated only for Kyiv’s local budget, Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the budget committee, reported on her Facebook.
The government will add Hr.25.5 billion (nearly $613 million) to the state reserve fund for unforeseen military and humanitarian needs. Up to Hr.8 billion ($198.3 million) from this amount may support the state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation is to receive Hr.4.3 billion ($103.4 million). As planned, Hr.1.4 billion ($33 million) will go to a new program for special equipment, drones, and field testing. Another Hr.2.8 billion ($68 million) will fund grants to develop defense tech production.
Schools will get Hr.4.6 billion ($111.6 million) to provide meals for all primary school students around the country and for older students in frontline areas. The state also allocates Hr.3.2 billion ($76.9 million) to purchase medicines for cancer, viral hepatitis, rare diseases and hemophilia.
Local budgets receive Hr.1.5 billion ($36.1 million) to expand the network of military lyceum. Another Hr.1.2 billion ($28.9 million) will support war veterans and their families, including direct payments and insurance compensation.
The parliament also approved a separate measure for internally displaced people (IDP) due to the war, where Hr.1 billion (nearly $24 million) will go toward financing new housing construction or the renovation of existing premises.
Local authorities may also use their budget to purchase or provide housing loans for displaced families.
Last month, the Verkhovna Rada voted for increased defense spending by Hr. 412.3 billion ($9.88 billion) that will enable military salaries to be paid in August.
The key reason for the changes was Ukraine’s desperate need for an extra $10 billion for salaries following the reallocation of these funds to purchase ammunition in the first half of the year, Ekonomiichna Pradva wrote.
Ukraine’s defense needs continue to rise, with the country spending most of its domestic revenue on defending itself against Russia, creating an estimated $10–19 billion shortfall for social spending.
Ukraine spent $20.8 billion – or about 75% of its total state budget expenditures of $27.9 billion in the first quarter of 2025 – to defend itself against Russia, the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Institute’s analytic center estimated.