“After War Had Begun, Spending on Weapons Was 5.6 Times as High as Budgeted for the Year,” Ministry of Defense

Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defense, stated this at her briefing at Media Center Ukraine — Ukrinform.

“Overall, almost UAH 232 billion has been transferred as salaries for military personnel over the last 5 months. It is 3.8 times as much as in the last year. The expenses on high-precision equipment, artillery, and UAVs are 5.6 times as high as allocated for weapons in the national budget for this year. We spent UAH 15.8 billion on reconditioning the equipment.
She also highlighted that more than 26,000 armor vests, 10,000 helmets, 10,000 pairs of boots, and over 20,000 field uniforms were supplied by the Ministry of Defense to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Currently, the supplies via the Ministry of Defense account for 65% of total supplies, while earlier, there was a 50 to 50% split between the Ministry of Defense and volunteers plus international assistance.
Furthermore, the work on raising military aid for Ukraine is going on at an international level, “Yesterday, the USA announced a new aid package for Ukraine to the tune of USD 700 million. The U. S. President Joe Biden emphasized that the package will include MRLS systems we have kept talking about at all levels since long ago. In May 2022, the Minister of Defense took part in 30 international events. The progress in receiving aid is a result of such negotiations to a great extent.”

Hanna Maliar stated that legal units of the Ministry of Defense kept working despite the war.

“A decision was made to return 2,500 hectares of land in Odesa Oblast that have been seized unlawfully into possession of the Ministry of Defense. We recovered more than a thousand square meters of real properties and reinstated the title of the Ministry of Defense to the real estate. In addition, the Defense Ministry charged UAH 6.8 million in penalties for the improper performance of contracts by the counterparties. We are waiting for a final decision to return these funds to the state budget,” she said.

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