"Zelenskyy’s thousand" will be funded at expense of child protection and low-income support programmes – media
The Cabinet of Ministers plans to give every Ukrainian 1,000 hryvnias under the "winter support" programme by reducing funding for child protection and low-income family assistance programmes.
This is stated in supporting documents to the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution on the 2025 "winter support" payments, Censor.NET reports, citing Ekonomichna Pravda.
The document outlines the government’s plan regarding the number of people expected to receive the "winter support" payment — 11 million citizens (which means that the 1,000-hryvnia payout will require 11 billion hryvnias). Previously, the government had publicly stated that they expected 10 million people to apply (which would have required 10 billion hryvnias).
According to the documents, the payment will be made through the programme "Social protection for citizens facing difficult life circumstances".
However, the funding currently allocated to this programme is insufficient to cover payments for all 11 million recipients. To finance the one-time payment, the government decided to reallocate money from other social support programmes.
The government proposes cutting 3.042 billion hryvnias from the "Child and family protection" programme and 1.483 billion from the "Support for low-income families" programme.
Conversely, funding for the "Social protection for citizens facing difficult life circumstances" programme (through which the 1,000-hryvnia payment, informally dubbed "Zelenskyy’s thousand", will be issued) will be increased by 4.526 billion hryvnias.
To enable payments to all applicants under this programme, the government also proposes amending the rules for how funds within this budget line may be used.
