KYIV: Ukraine’s parliament amended the 2024 budget on Wednesday, raising defense spending by an additional 500 billion hryvnias ($12 billion) as the war against Russia rages on after nearly 31 months.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a lawmaker from the Holos party, said total budget spending for this year had been increased to a record 3.73 trillion hryvnias ($90 billion).
As Ukrainian troops defend more than 1,000 km (620 miles)of front lines, demand for ammunition and weapons is growing and more money is required. Ukraine has also increased the pace of mobilization and needs more funds to pay soldiers’ wages.
Ukraine spends most of its state revenues on funding the national defense effort, and relies on financial aid from its Western partners to be able to fund pensions, public sector wages and other social spending. The finance ministry said that total budget spending was up by nearly 11 percent, reaching 2.1 trillion hryvnias in the first eight months of the year.
The spending included about 965.8 billion hryvnias on soldiers’ wages, ammunition, equipment and other military needs, it said in a statement.
To raise additional funds for the army for the rest of the year, the government plans to increase taxes and will borrow more from the domestic debt market, the finance ministry said.
Kyiv has also agreed a deal to restructure over $20 billion of international debt, saving about $11.4 billion over the next three years.
The government plans to increase a war tax paid by residents to 5 percent from the current 1.5 percent, and will introduce additional war-related taxes for individual entrepreneurs and small businesses. It has already increased some import and fuel duties.
Parliament has given its initial approval to the planned tax hikes and is expected to vote for the bill in the final reading later this month or in early October.
Tax changes are expected to bring about 58 billion hryvnias to the budget this year and about 137 billion next year, officials have said.
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Ukraine amends 2024 budget to channel more funds for defense
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Ukraine amends 2024 budget to channel more funds for defense
- Ukraine spends most of its state revenues on funding the national defense effort
- The government plans to increase a war tax paid by residents to 5% from the current 1.5%
Russia’s war footing may remain after Ukraine war, Latvia spy chief warns
MUNICH: Russia will not end the militarization of its economy after fighting in Ukraine ends, the head of Latvia’s intelligence agency told AFP on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference which ends Sunday.
“The potential aggressiveness of Russia when the Ukraine war stops will depend of many factors: How the war ends, if it’s frozen or not, and if the sanctions remain,” Egils Zviedris, director of the Latvian intelligence service SAB, told AFP.
Some observers believe that Russia has so thoroughly embraced a war economy and full military mobilization that it will be difficult for it to reverse course, and that this could push Moscow to launch further offensives against European territories.
Zviedris said that lifting current sanctions “would allow Russia to develop its military capacities” more quickly.
He acknowledged that Russia has drawn up military plans to potentially attack Latvia and its Baltic neighbors, but also said that “Russia does not pose a military threat to Latvia at the moment.”
“The fact that Russia has made plans to invade the Baltics, as they have plans for many things, does not mean Russia is going to attack,” Zviedris told AFP.
However, the country is subject to other types of threats from Moscow, particularly cyberattacks, according to the agency he leads.
The SAB recently wrote in its 2025 annual report that Russia poses the main cyber threat to Latvia, because of broader strategic goals as well as Latvia’s staunch support of Ukraine.
The threat has “considerably increased” since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it said.
The agency has also warned that Russia is seeking to exploit alleged grievances of Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltics — and in Latvia in particular.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly claimed to be preparing cases against Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia at the UN International Court of Justice over the rights of their Russian-speaking minorities.
“The aim of litigation: to discredit Latvia on an international level and ensure long-term international pressure on Latvia to change its policy toward Russia and the Russian-speaking population,” the report said.
In 2025, approximately 23 percent of Latvia’s 1.8 million residents identified as being of Russian ethnicity, according to the national statistics office.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Latvian authorities decided to require Russian speakers residing in the country to take an exam to assess their knowledge of the Latvian language — with those failing at potential risk of deportation.
“The potential aggressiveness of Russia when the Ukraine war stops will depend of many factors: How the war ends, if it’s frozen or not, and if the sanctions remain,” Egils Zviedris, director of the Latvian intelligence service SAB, told AFP.
Some observers believe that Russia has so thoroughly embraced a war economy and full military mobilization that it will be difficult for it to reverse course, and that this could push Moscow to launch further offensives against European territories.
Zviedris said that lifting current sanctions “would allow Russia to develop its military capacities” more quickly.
He acknowledged that Russia has drawn up military plans to potentially attack Latvia and its Baltic neighbors, but also said that “Russia does not pose a military threat to Latvia at the moment.”
“The fact that Russia has made plans to invade the Baltics, as they have plans for many things, does not mean Russia is going to attack,” Zviedris told AFP.
However, the country is subject to other types of threats from Moscow, particularly cyberattacks, according to the agency he leads.
The SAB recently wrote in its 2025 annual report that Russia poses the main cyber threat to Latvia, because of broader strategic goals as well as Latvia’s staunch support of Ukraine.
The threat has “considerably increased” since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it said.
The agency has also warned that Russia is seeking to exploit alleged grievances of Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltics — and in Latvia in particular.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly claimed to be preparing cases against Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia at the UN International Court of Justice over the rights of their Russian-speaking minorities.
“The aim of litigation: to discredit Latvia on an international level and ensure long-term international pressure on Latvia to change its policy toward Russia and the Russian-speaking population,” the report said.
In 2025, approximately 23 percent of Latvia’s 1.8 million residents identified as being of Russian ethnicity, according to the national statistics office.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Latvian authorities decided to require Russian speakers residing in the country to take an exam to assess their knowledge of the Latvian language — with those failing at potential risk of deportation.
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