Poroshenko: if the army is a priority, words must be backed by money, and money is the budget

Petro Poroshenko handed over a batch of drones, excavators and equipment worth 25 million hryvnias to the units of the Defense Forces. The resource bases of 15 units of the Ground Forces, the Special Forces, the Special Forces, the Navy and the Air Force will be replenished with 4 excavator-loaders, 100 fixed-wing Blyskavka FPV attack drones, 145 inverter generators, 130 charging stations, and 290 autonomous diesel heaters.

This was reported by the press service of “European Solidarity” .

During a meeting with the military, Poroshenko also announced that the majority in the Verkhovna Rada approved the shameful draft State Budget for 2027 in the first reading, where billions are allocated not to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but to untargeted populist spending.

“Prosecutors, judges, and security officers are getting a raise. And the military’s financial support hasn’t been increased for five years. They say there’s no money. There is money for those, but there isn’t for the army. Our team proposed cutting spending by 515 billion hryvnias and directing it to the Armed Forces. We fought day and night. But not a single amendment from “European Solidarity” was taken into account,” Poroshenko states.

“And at a meeting with the leadership of the Armed Forces, we were told that, in particular, due to the increase in fuel prices, the army is forced to reduce the purchase of drones and weapons. We will not put up with this,” says Petro Poroshenko.

He also recalled the state of the army after Yanukovych’s flight in 2024 and the path of reforms it had overcome by 2019.

“With what army did Ukraine meet the enemy in 2014? In Crimea, 96% of the employees of the State Protection Department went over to the enemy’s side. There was no one to give the command to. More than 70% of the military betrayed the oath, and with them the Navy command, headed by the commander. To organize the defense, hundreds of Maidan self-defense fighters were sent to the front on school buses and in tracksuits after a week-long course. This is how we accepted Yanukovych’s army: demoralized, disorganized, recruited, and unable to perform combat missions,” the fifth President recalls.

“Olexandr Turchynov, the then acting president, writes about those events. I strongly advise you to read his column in Ukrainska Pravda. Especially to those who were sitting abroad or in Moscow at that time, and now he is taking it upon himself to tell how we should have acted. In 2019, the government received from us combat-ready Armed Forces and tens of billions in gold and foreign exchange reserves. And in the first three years of their “effective” work, we received underfunding of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the disbandment of brigades. Our priority was not “blah-blah-blah”, but the army, language, faith. If the army is a priority, then money should be behind the words. And money is the budget,” Poroshenko explains.

“A budget without an increase in financial support is unacceptable to me as the fifth president and leader of the opposition. And I will do everything in my power to strengthen the Armed Forces,” Poroshenko emphasized.

As is known, “European Solidarity” demands to remove all populist and corruption expenditure items from the draft State Budget for 2027. Instead, the released funds should go exclusively to defense and strengthening the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the party leader Petro Poroshenko, the redistribution of non-targeted expenditures will allow for at least half a trillion hryvnias to be additionally allocated to the army.

“Our demands are specific: at least 500 billion hryvnias of additional resources for the military, for the purchase of weapons and defense technologies; 30 percent of the military personal income tax money directly to the brigades. Indexation of monetary support; protection of the energy sector and the economy; abolition of non-priority and propaganda expenses; fulfillment of European obligations and restoration of the trust of allies,” Poroshenko notes.

Recall that Petro Poroshenko handed over to the military five Ai-Petri PDTR complexes , which are intended to strengthen the defense of the capital from enemy air attacks.

Also follow “Pryamim” on Facebook , X , Telegram , and Instagram .