Defense, social security and education: where will the trillions of hryvnias allocated to the state budget go?

The total amount of expenditures included in the draft state budget for 2026 is 4.8 trillion hryvnias, which is more than 3 times higher than the expenditures of the Ukrainian budget before the full-scale invasion.

This was stated by Roksolana Pidlas, the chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Budget.

The Cabinet of Ministers allocated the most funds to national security and defense — UAH 2.8 trillion.

“The biggest innovation in the field of defense spending is the so-called “defense reserve” of UAH 200 billion. This is a new budget program of the Ministry of Finance, which the Government will distribute among the Defense Forces by its decision for a prompt response to needs on the battlefield,” the official explained.

At the same time, almost 45 billion is allocated for the production of weapons and ammunition in Ukraine, and another 37.6 billion is allocated for the production of drones.

Among non-military expenditures, the largest amount of money is invested in servicing the state debt – UAH 513.1 billion, social protection – UAH 467 billion, as well as education, healthcare, and supporting the capacity of local budgets (additional subsidy to affected communities, basic subsidy, compensation for the difference in tariffs).

It is planned to cover the costs in three ways:

• own revenues, which will provide UAH 2.85 trillion – without international grants;
• OVDP (Domestic Government Bonds) — UAH 419.6 billion;
• international assistance — loans and grants — $45.5 billion.

Own revenues will increase by more than UAH 452 billion through VAT (+ UAH 165.2 billion), personal income tax (+ UAH 93.6 billion), and the National Bank’s net profit (+ UAH 61.8 billion).

“Probably, for the first time, the budget clearly includes revenues from “detinization” — UAH 60 billion from the excess of total customs revenues (part of the “defense reserve” and allocated to a separate cell for the special fund). It will be interesting to observe how the “detinization plan” will be implemented. The export duty on rapeseed and soybeans (UAH 9.3 billion) is directed to financial support for agricultural producers, as planned by the relevant law,” Pidlasa added.

As a reminder, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the draft state budget for 2026 and is submitting it for consideration to the Verkhovna Rada.

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