There is 180 billion hryvnia ’hole’ in 2026 state budget for military salaries; there are not even enough funds to match last year’s level of payments, – Zhelezniak
The Cabinet of Ministers is refusing to allocate the necessary funds in the amendments to the 2026 State Budget, creating a massive funding shortfall for the army. The government has not set aside any funds at all for increasing payments to military personnel.
This was reported by MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, according to Censor.NET.
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The hidden hole: where did the 300 billion deficit come from?
According to Zhelezniak, the crisis began as early as 2025. The initial budget for military personnel pay for 2026 almost entirely mirrored the figures from the previous year. However, the authorities ‘forgot’ to take into account that on 20 or 21 October 2025, the Verkhovna Rada was forced to make emergency amendments to the state budget, increasing expenditure on military salaries by approximately 300 billion hryvnias.
As new recruits are being enlisted and payments to wounded and discharged soldiers are rising, the actual needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have increased significantly. Consequently, to maintain payments to servicemen at least at the previous level, the 2026 Budget needed to allocate at least these 300 billion hryvnias.
The MP spoke about the government’s allocation of an additional 1.5 trillion hryvnias to the army. According to Zhelezniak, the Cabinet of Ministers is not technically lying, but the devil is in the details.
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The actual allocation: Of the huge sum announced for the changes, only 170 billion hryvnias is being allocated directly to the military’s provisions and salaries.
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Actual shortfall: This sum covers less than half of the minimum required 300 billion. Moreover, according to official calculations by the Accounting Chamber, the state is currently short of as much as 365 billion hryvnias to fully fund the military.
"In this case, it turns out that we have a shortfall of 180 billion hryvnias. And the shortfall is not because we cannot afford to increase military salaries, but because we cannot even pay them at last year’s level! All these statements and decisions by the government and the president, which were announced there, simply have no financial basis at present. It is an illusion," Zhelezniak emphasised.
He added that the Cabinet of Ministers and the parliamentary majority do not plan to significantly increase spending on military pay (the planned targeted adjustments do not even reach 10 billion).
At the same time, "Servants of the People" refuse to cut non-core spending or stop corruption schemes to redirect funds to the front line, and are ignoring the opposition’s alternative bill whilst planning to take 40 billion hryvnias from the Ministry of Defence.
Political intrigues surrounding the Defence Minister
Zhelezniak stated that behind the financial sabotage of army payments lies an internal power struggle within the ruling team.
"The problem is that there is clearly a political intrigue at play here, where Mykhailo Fedorov, who is the Minister of Defence and responsible for this whole affair, is being forced to effectively admit that the reform will fail. Because there will be no money for it and, consequently, no one will allocate it. This depends on parliament, the president and the Ministry of Finance. It doesn’t look as though any of these people are going to find the money there," the MP noted.
