Zelensky signs 2025 budget
Source: Denys Shmyhal/Telegram
On November 28, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky signed into the law the state budget for 2025. The financial plan is marked by the record spending on defense, according to prime minster Denys Shmyhal.
“We are allocating 2.23 trillion hryvnias for security and defense, including funding for weapons procurement, drone production, and military equipment,” Shmyhal wrote on Telegram. Key expenditures will include 420.9 billion hrynvias for social welfare, 217 billion hryvnias for healthcare, and 199 billion hryvnias for education.
The budget outlines 3.6 trillion hryvnias in spending and 2.05 trillion hryvnias in revenues for 2025, reflecting the nation’s ongoing resilience amid wartime challenges.
Shmyhal expressed confidence in Ukraine’s ability to navigate the next financial year, arguing his team has ‘clear understanding”. He also credited strong coordination across government branches and unwavering support from international partners.
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In 2025, the deadliest year yet for civilians, Ukraine’s three largest charitable foundations raised a record 105.9 billion hryvnias. It is more than the years 2022–2024 combined. According to the UN, humanitarian aid in Ukraine was delivered by more than 450 organisations, reaching five million people over the course of the year. Civic foundations hold licences to purchase lethal weapons, which is a function states have monopolised for centuries. These record sums were underwritten by international government grants, which means foreign states now channel billions directly through Ukrainian civic funds, bypassing inter-state channels. It is hard to imagine a stronger institutional trust in civil society.