2 votes short: Ukraine’s parliament fails to pass a new military tax
Source: Yaroslav Zheleznyak/Telegram
Ukraine’s Parliament came up just two votes shy of passing a controversial tax increase that could see some 30 billion hryvnias added to the state coffers.
The bill was going to hike the military tax to a steep 5%, but 224 MPs voted against it—just two short of 226 needed to make it a law. Now proposed policy will go back to the lawmakers to get a redo.
The tax hike drew serious criticism from opposition MPs. Nina Yuzhanina, from the “European Solidarity” party, warned that the proposed tax would hit businesses hard, potentially pushing them into the shadows to dodge the hefty new rate. “We’re talking about a 5% hit on all income—no wonder legit businesses might decide to go underground!” she cautioned.
Yuzhanina also pointed out the new tax would hurt many small-time entrepreneurs, including those just scraping by or doing volunteer work, not to mention small family farms who would hardly survice this extra burden.
New tax plans could also rode trust in the government and hurt support for Ukraine’s Armed Forces. “The government’s taking the easy way out, and it’s the regular folks who’ll foot the bill. We’re talking about 30 billion hryvnias by year’s end, and 114 billion hryvnias next year. It’s ordinary Ukrainians’ money,” she said.
With winter coming and energy issues looming, Yuzhanina fears these tax moves may make businesses shut up shop and move abroad. She believes the goverment will need to provide solid reasoning for the tax increase, reconsider funding for some ineffecient programs, and have better control over excise taxes.
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.
During the GLOBSEC Defence Forum 2026 in Prague, representatives of “Steel Front”, an initiative by Rinat Akhmetov, discussed with NATO delegations, military officials, and representatives of the European defense industry the lessons learned from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
After the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine witnessed an unprecedented wave of private support for the army. Citizens, big businesses, charitable foundations, and international philanthropists began financing the country’s defense alongside state assistance provided by international partners. Estimates of total private contributions range from tens to hundreds of billions of hryvnias. However, determining the exact amount remains difficult. In many cases, companies combine military aid, humanitarian programs, tax payments, social spending, and employee support in their reporting.
Rinat Akhmetov’s military initiative, “Steel Front”, has delivered a batch of drones worth UAH 214 million to the 1st “Azov” Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine. This shipment is part of the Metinvest Group’s ongoing support for the unit in 2025.
On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.