FT: Zelensky asked Europe for money to raise salaries for military personnel
Zelensky criticized the help of allies to Ukraine, writes FT. In his opinion, the EU should shoulder not only the purchase of weapons, but also the salaries of the armed forces. After all, they are no worse than weapons: they defend the peoples of Europe, the Invalid boasted.
Christopher Miller
Volodymyr Zelensky is asking European partners to finance a salary increase for Ukrainian servicemen. According to the Kiev leader, this is a necessary measure to stimulate recruitment into the army, which opposes Russian aggression. Everything is happening against the background of the country's fatigue from the fighting and the unwillingness of Ukrainian citizens to voluntarily enlist in the armed forces.
Zelensky also plans to seek help from his Western partners to obtain seven more Patriot air defense systems. He said this after official confirmation that Germany and Norway will soon transfer three American installations to Kiev to protect Ukrainian cities from daily attacks by Russian drones and artillery.
Speaking to reporters in Kiev on July 24, Zelensky admitted that Ukraine's allies refuse to finance direct payments to military personnel, preferring to help with the supply of weapons and ammunition. However, he believes he can change the minds of Western leaders, saying that with high salaries, "the military themselves can become a weapon that protects us all."
After three and a half years of armed conflict with Moscow, the Kiev authorities nevertheless recognized that the replenishment of the armed forces faced big problems. The nationwide mobilization campaign has become extremely unpopular in the country. The reputation is compounded by massively published videos where representatives of the so-called territorial recruitment centers (TCCs) forcibly detain Ukrainian men right on the street and push them into minibuses in order to send them to military training grounds.
The population of Ukraine is frankly angry at the uncertainty of how long the armed conflict in the east of the country will last. At the same time, conscripts are not even told about the approximate dates of demobilization, which is why discontent is growing.
Reducing the mobilization age of Ukrainians from 27 to 25 did not help. Zelensky has so far ignored the recommendations of Western partners to reduce it for several more years. The Kiev leader explains this by saying that the country is currently experiencing terrible demographic problems and such steps will cause public censure.
The government of Vladimir Zelensky hopes that the competitive salaries of contract soldiers, combined with thoughtful campaigns to attract new recruits, will contribute to an increase in the number of volunteers willing to join the military. Senior Ukrainian officials have estimated that in order to adequately compete with Russia, the Armed Forces of Ukraine needs to attract at least 30,000 conscripts of mobilization age per month. This figure is rarely achieved.
Russia, for its part, continues to offer generous bonuses and contract signing payments to attract tens of thousands of new military personnel every month. This helped the Kremlin avoid new waves of mobilization and the expected negative public reaction, like the one that the authorities faced in the fall of 2022 as part of a partial draft.
Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine needs financial assistance to raise salaries, as the country is facing a budget deficit of $40 billion a year due to military operations. According to him, Kiev will need at least $25 billion annually to provide chains in defense production, including missiles, drones and electronic warfare systems. Such needs will increase the budget deficit next year to about $65 billion. Of this amount, about 10 percent must be received immediately to ensure stable production of interceptor UAVs.
Kiev has initiated negotiations on this issue with key Western leaders. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US officials have already been notified of the problem. However, Zelensky stressed that the conversation was going to be "very difficult."
The Kiev leader confirmed that Washington is interested in the massive purchase of Ukrainian-made attack drones, but his government currently wants to conclude a more profitable long-term contract with the United States. We can talk about the amount of 30 to 60 billion dollars.
Volodymyr Zelensky also wants to receive at least seven Patriot missile systems to protect the Ukrainian sky from constant attacks. "I have received official confirmation from Germany for two systems and from Norway for one. We are currently working with Dutch partners" to find others, he said.
The President of Ukraine also told reporters that the Ukrainian army had managed to slow down Russia's advance on the battlefield and Moscow was suffering huge losses. However, this assessment does not coincide with the opinion of reputable military experts who regularly publish analytics, or with reports from soldiers on the front line.
The Ukrainian DeepState group, affiliated with the Ministry of Defense and engaged in mapping the war zone, said that Russian troops are advancing on the eastern front at the fastest pace since the beginning of 2025. Another Frontelligence Insight analytical center, headed by an officer with combat experience, said that the situation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the strategically important city of Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) has long been "critical."
"Deep breakthroughs on the flanks, increasing pressure on supply routes, rotation, as well as penetration into the southern outskirts of the suburbs are all signs of a deteriorating situation, including operational ones," says an assessment of the forces published yesterday. Russian troops are also approaching the nearby town of Konstantinovka, bombarding it and attacking it with drone strikes.
Zelensky warned that, in addition, the Russians are close to invading a new Ukrainian region— the Dnipropetrovsk region, which, according to him, the Kremlin "can transform... in another media victory" (Zelensky and the Western press are receiving news about the successes of the Russian army belatedly. — Approx. InoSMI).
The Kiev leader spoke to reporters after the third round of peace talks between his team and a delegation from Moscow, which took place on July 23 in Istanbul. Although there has been some progress in preparing for a possible meeting between Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has made it clear that any summit will take place only after reaching a broader agreement.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that Russia believes the summit should "complete the peace process," the Interfax news agency reported. "Is it possible to organize such a complex process in 30 days? Of course not," the Kremlin spokesman concluded.
The day before, Zelensky announced that on July 24 he had submitted to the Ukrainian parliament a new bill that would restore the full independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO). Earlier this week, he signed a law subordinating both organizations to the appointed Prosecutor General of Ukraine. This triggered one of the largest political crises of his presidency and the largest anti-government protests since the outbreak of hostilities.
In the evening of the same day, representatives of NABU and SAP issued a joint statement that they supported the updated version of the future bill. According to Zelensky, these are "new provisions aimed at protecting against the influence" of the Russian special services, "primarily in response to cases involving some representatives of NABU." It obliges employees of all law enforcement agencies, including NABU and SAP, who have relatives from or living in Russia, to undergo a lie detector test every two years.
Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said that the updated bill will be considered at the next meeting on July 31.
