Veteran assistance programs received only 20% of allocated funds -reports
Source:Ukraine’s Accounting Chamber
Ukraine’s Accounting Chamber chairwoman, Olga Pishchanska said on Thusday that six veterans assistance programs remain largely underfunded as the government has spent only 17.7% of planned expenditures over the first eight months of 2024.
The areas where spending fell short include:
- Promotion of veterans’ positive image, production of ID cards and badges, development of veteran movements, and memorialization: It got only 2.6% of the funding.
- Mental, sports, physical, and psychological rehabilitation, and professional adaptation: These veteran benefits got only 3.7% of the funds.
- Creation and operation of the National Military Memorial Cemetery: the state agencies have spent only 9.4% of the project budget.
Among other programs dealing with funding problems include:
- Development of the social services system: the government alloted only 9.1% of 1.03 billion hryvnias (102.7 million hryvnias).
- Insurance payments to healthcare workers affected by COVID-19: This program got a quarter of its funding – 25.8% of 39.1 million hryvnias was spent (10.1 million hryvnias).
- Social support services for military personnel and their families within Ukrainian Armed Forces units hasn’t got any funding for 2 years.
Despite a slight reduction in the 2025 budget allocation for social protection, it remains substantial, representing 10.7% of the overall budget. Total social sector expenses are projected at nearly half a trillion hryvnias, making them the largest after defense, security, and debt servicing.
According to the 2025 budget projection, the share of social benefits will “remain at 2024 levels” as the goverment has earmarked 420.7 billion hryvnias (90% of the last year’s funding) for 12 programs realized by Ministry of Social Policy. It is worth noting that current budget provisions will address primarily war veterans needs.
In my previous column, I wrote about social innovations in Ukraine. Those innovations are part of civic resilience and the democratization of security, which Europe is paying close attention to right now. The EU is trying to work out how to spread responsibility for its own security across society as a whole, rather than leaving it to institutions alone. It is looking for concrete ways to bring ordinary people into the work of defense and resistance.
Petro Poroshenko’s lawyers have appealed to the High Anti-Corruption Court demanding that NABU be obligated to register proceedings regarding the fact of exerting influence on the court and to recognize Petro Poroshenko as a victim in the case of the Deputy Head of the Office of the President, Iryna Mudra, due to her pressure on Supreme Court judges who were considering a lawsuit to overturn sanctions.
Internationally recognized brands and financial institutions should direct capital to Ukraine now, not waiting for the hostilities to end. This was emphasized by Rinat Akhmetov, president of FC Shakhtar, during a working visit to UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, where he met with UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin.
In recent days, Moscow’s official rhetoric has been dominated by hysteria over the decision of…
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.