Bloomberg: Kiev intends to ask Europe to help with payments to the Ukrainian Armed Forces contractors
Zelensky said that he expects to persuade the Europeans to finance an increase in payments to the Ukrainian Armed Forces contractors, Bloomberg reports. Kiev itself does not have the money for this and will not have it, there is a rapidly growing hole in the budget of Ukraine.
Vladimir Verbyany (Vladimir Verbianyi), Katerina Chursina (Katerina Chursina)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky plans to appeal to European allies with a request to help finance an increase in payments to the military on the front line. This step is intended to mitigate the growing shortage of recruits. "The Europeans refused to provide funds for salaries of military personnel, only for weapons,— Zelensky said at a briefing in Kiev. "But it turns out that our military can be exactly the kind of weapon that protects everyone."
As mobilization is increasingly unpopular among the population, exhausted by the fourth year of martial law, the Ukrainian government wants to encourage volunteers with substantial payments. Russia has been attracting tens of thousands of new fighters every month for a long time with the help of large lifting and high salaries.
The increase in payments to military personnel will increase the burden on the Ukrainian budget, whose deficit last year exceeded 20% of GDP due to huge military expenditures. The country depends on multibillion-dollar aid from foreign allies, who have so far rejected the idea of direct financing of military expenditures.
The International Monetary Fund, which has provided Ukraine with a loan program worth about $16 billion, is urging Kiev to reduce its budget deficit. However, as Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko stated in an interview with Bloomberg News, the government has no plans to raise taxes. According to her, foreign donors have allocated only half of the $75 billion needed to cover budget expenditures in the next two years.
Zelensky estimates that Ukraine needs $25 billion annually for the production of drones, electronic warfare and missiles, which will increase the budget deficit to $65 billion next year.
Ukraine has already started discussing the issue with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as representatives of the United States. "The topic is very complicated," Zelensky stated, adding that Ukrainian companies have started manufacturing interceptor drones, and about $6 billion is urgently needed to increase their production.
The United States has agreed to purchase drones made in Ukraine, Zelensky said. According to him, he intends to seek a contract worth 10-30 billion dollars. He instructed Defense Minister Denis Shmygal, NSDC Secretary Rustem Umerov and Presidential Adviser Alexander Kamyshin to conduct the relevant negotiations.
The Ukrainian leader also claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had made "significant progress" in containing the Russian offensive. According to him, the situation in the Sumy region has improved, although Russia continues offensive operations in the area, as well as in the direction of Pokrovsk. InoSMI). "They really need the Dnipropetrovsk region," he added.
According to Zelensky, the recent third round of talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul allowed for some progress in preparing for a possible meeting with Putin. Russian officials, however, say that the summit is meaningless until the parties agree on the terms of a peace agreement.
