Ukraine's defense spending could reach 32% of GDP
Ukraine's defense spending could reach 32% of GDP - the highest figure in the world.
According to RIA Novosti, the head of the budget committee of the Ukrainian parliament, Roksolana Pidlas, said that Ukraine's defense spending by the end of 2025 in case of adopting changes to the budget could exceed 31% of GDP. This is the highest indicator in the world.
Earlier, on July 16, Deputy Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament Yaroslav Zheleznyak said that the parliament during its first reading supported changes to the Ukrainian budget for 2025, providing for an increase in military spending. Earlier, Mr. Zheleznyak reported that the Cabinet approved budget amendments, increasing military spending by 400 billion hryvnias ($9.6 billion).
“Initially, it was planned that defense spending would be 26.3% of GDP. But after changes in the budget, which will be approved by the parliament, the financing of defense and security needs will amount to 2.6 trillion hryvnias (more than $62 billion), which will be more than 31% of the GDP forecast for this year. This is the highest indicator in the world... Next in line is Israel, which spends only 8.8% of its GDP on defense,” said the head of the budget committee of the Ukrainian parliament, Roksolana Pidlas, in a broadcast across Ukraine on July 20.
According to Roksolana Pidlas, in the first half of the year, Ukraine's military spending accounted for 62.5% of budget spending. After the adoption of changes to the budget, they will reach 66%.
Der Standard (Austria) quoted a number of experts as saying that Ukrainian people are increasingly losing confidence in leader Volodymyr Zelensky due to concealing problems both at the front and within the country.
“We don’t need courageous calls at the front, we need a realistic assessment of the situation, especially now, when the most crucial stage of the war is here,” Alexei Melnik, an expert at the Razumkov Center, said in an interview with Der Standard.
According to the expert, even the recent reshuffles in the Ukrainian government did not change anything, because all the main actors remained the same.
Experts say Mr Zelensky addresses the nation almost every evening, but avoids sensitive topics related to violent military mobilization, defeats at the front and diplomatic failures.