Military levy should not go to “E-banking”, but to indexation of monetary support in the Armed Forces of Ukraine – Poroshenko
Military levy funds should go towards indexing the monetary support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko said at a briefing.
He reported that the European Solidarity faction has registered the relevant bills 15177 and 15138-1, which allow for an increase in payments to Ukrainian defenders starting in the second half of 2026.
“All funds received from the military levy should be credited to a special fund and spent exclusively and only on supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine, namely on increasing and indexing the financial support of military personnel,” said the fifth President.
Poroshenko also stated that the government is spending about UAH 100 billion on populist expenditure items. “If in 2023 the State Budget received UAH 40 billion in military levies, in 2024 – UAH 51 billion, then last year it was already UAH 163 billion, and this year it is expected to receive UAH 198 billion 300 million. The authorities used these funds for absolute populism. UAH 5 billion for “E-banking”, UAH 4 billion for pitching (this is something related to cinema), UAH 10 billion for screening, another initiative of the authorities in the field of healthcare, UAH 5.5 billion, “single marathon” – UAH 7 billion, cashback – UAH 18 billion, “winter support” – UAH 18 billion, “3 thousand kilometers from Ukrzaliznytsia” – another UAH 16 billion, a new initiative of the authorities for 1.5 thousand – another UAH 20 billion. If you add up, you will get to the figure of UAH 100 billion,” Poroshenko noted.
“At the same time, the amount of cash support established by law is UAH 20,000 and has not changed since 2022. Every time we meet with the military, the main question is why the cash support is not indexed? Prices are rising, inflation is rising, they have not increased for 4 years. Prices in Ukraine have increased by more than 50%, but the cash support of military personnel has not. And that is why we demand the elimination of this injustice,” Poroshenko explains.
He noted that the total amount of the Ministry of Defense’s expenditures on financial support has decreased, unlike the law enforcement agencies and the state apparatus: “even technical employees of the Verkhovna Rada, in particular, the head of the Verkhovna Rada’s staff, increased their financial support several times. But the SBI investigators are the ones who need social protection the most. The financial support of these investigators, who are engaged in political persecution and taking bribes, should increase by 183%,” Poroshenko said.
“The special fund requires appropriate changes to the current year’s budget and the Budget Code, so that from next year the military levy also goes exclusively to the needs of increasing the financial support of our Armed Forces. The draft laws have been registered, we hope that other factions will join our initiative,” Poroshenko said.
The party leader is convinced that funds from military government bonds should go exclusively to a special fund for defense needs: “because when a Ukrainian, an individual, a legal entity goes to buy military bonds, he sincerely believes that in this way he is supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But it turns out that he is being fooled,” Poroshenko was indignant.
“European Solidarity” insists that no less than 20% of the so-called military personal income tax, which the authorities once withdrew from community budgets, be returned directly to the brigades’ accounts: “the authorities took these funds from local budgets, took these funds from the brigades and sent them to Mr. Mindich, sent them to corrupt people so that they could further line their pockets. The government is not going to draw conclusions from “Mindichgate”. And we, “European Solidarity”, will insist that the participants in these Mindich records be released, held accountable, and financial flows be redistributed to the brigades, and not fuel corruption,” Poroshenko emphasized.
“The authorities are spending a hundred billion hryvnias, they don’t have enough, so they are going to continue to raise taxes, destroy our economy in order to provide for these populist initiatives that are absolutely unnecessary to anyone. They are taking money from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which heroically defend the state and ensure our path to the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union,” Petro Poroshenko concluded.
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