Former Ukrainian president slams government spending priorities for 2025
Source: Petro Poroshenko
On Tuesday, former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has urged the government to slash all non-targeted spending from the 2025 budget and redirect the funds towards supporting Ukraine’s military. During a speech in the Verkhovna Rada on 17 September, Poroshenko blasted the current draft of the budget arguing the government has no clear strategy for the state funding.
“What are you going to develop when the government being accountable to the parliament fails to present here their strategy. Where are they heading?” said Poroshenko.
The governement miscalculated that the war with Russia would be over by August meaning the country’s defense lacks ₴500 billion this year.
“The army is a priority. Parliament members should have participated in the National Security and Defense Council’s session to approve the military portion of the state budget. Has anyone heard anything about that?” Poroshenko questioned.
He aslo complained Zelensky’s government hasn’t made public what they call Ukraine’s ‘victory plan’.
When will the people deserve to know how we plan to secure victory and peace? The public is entitled to an honest and mature conversation,” he asked.
While Denmark steps in to cover a purchase of 18 Ukraine-made Bohdan self-propelled artillery units for Ukrainian troops, Shmyhal’s govmernment keeps wasting money on a televised marathon, and these funds could be put to better use to get Urainian soldiers additional benefits and equipment.
“Just yesterday, I delivered 80 night-vision drones, while the goverment program managed to supply only 50 over the past month. This is unacceptable. We need to send back this budget for revision and focus on defense and victory,” Poroshenko stressed.
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.