Ukrainian Parliament approves 2025 state budget with record defense spending

Source: Yaroslav Zheleznyak/Telegram

On November 19, the Verkhovna Rada passed the 2025 state budget in its second and final reading, with 257 lawmakers voting in favor of it.

The budget includes record expenditures of 3.94 trillion hryvnias, with 2.22 trillion hryvnias set to be spent on defense. Revenue is projected at 2.3 trillion hryvnias, bolstered by 141 billion hryvnias from newly enacted tax increases.

Ukraine expects external financing to reach $38.4 billion in 2025.

The budget earlier drew criticism over the allocation of 1.5 billion hryvnias for the national “Telethon” and funding of cashback incentives promoting purchases of domestics goods, according to MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak.