The Ukrainian government has submitted a draft defense budget for next year, marking the largest scale in history, to parliament, Reuters and other foreign media reported on the 16th local time.

According to sources, the total budget submitted by the Ukrainian government to the parliament (Verkhovna Rada) for next year is 7.27 trillion hryvnias (approx. 223.2 trillion won), with the defense budget accounting for two-thirds of that at 4.89 trillion hryvnias (approx. 151 trillion won).

Reuters analyzed that next year's defense budget proposal has increased by about 12% compared to this year.

Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the parliamentary budget committee, explained to lawmakers, "This budget is the 6th formulated since the outbreak of the full-scale war, and its size is larger than previous budgets because costs have increased as the war continues."

At the same time, Pidlasa pointed out, "National revenues are not keeping pace with the rate of expenditure growth."

According to the Ukrainian government, next year's revenue is projected at 5.6 trillion hryvnias (approx. 170.2 trillion won), which amounts to only about 77% of the expenditure proposal.

Pidlasa explained that daily war expenditures, which stood at around 116 million US dollars (approx. 158.6 billion won) a day in 2022 immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine, jumped to 190 million US dollars (approx. 259.8 billion won) this year.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko told parliament, "Next year, we will need more than 52 billion dollars (approx. 71.2 trillion won) in international financial support."

Minister Marchenko stated that the government has been promised about 2 billion dollars (approx. 2.7 trillion won) in support from partner countries and is discussing how to cover the remaining amount, adding that "frozen Russian assets by European allies could become a key financial resource to fill the 2027 budget shortfall."

Reuters pointed out that since the outbreak of the war, Ukraine has received about 198 billion dollars (approx. 271 trillion won) in financial support from overseas partners such as the European Union (EU), but to continue receiving funding infusions, it must push for reforms such as taxation and meet fiscal-related requirements.

In connection with this, the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill in its first reading on this day to impose taxes on overseas delivery goods to secure fiscal soundness.

(Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine YouTube, Yonhap News)