Zelensky’s ‘one thousand’ benefit will cost Ukraine’s budget 5 billion- reports

Source: Yaroslav Zheleznyak, Oleksiy Honcharenko

The Ukrainian government will spend 5 billion hryvnias to fund the so-called “Zelensky’s thousand” benefit program this year, with plans to double that amount to 10 billion hryvnias in 2025.  Promoted as a financial support to Ukrainians, the one-off program has sparked controversy over where the money is going to come from.

According to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak,  the idea can prove costly for the country’s budget.

“Despit the ongoing missile threats, the Ministry of Economy has gone ahead with this idiotic idea of the 1,000 hryvnias’ [payments]. This year, it will cost 5 billion hryvnias, and next year, 10 billion,” he said. “These are not funds from our [international] partners, but from the unemployment fund.”

Fellow MP Oleksiy Honcharenko has also been critical of Zelensky’s plan.  He claimed that the program will be covered with the money earlier alloted for the national “cashback” initiative, which can throw a wrench in the idea of propping up domestic businesss.

“If the funds are not allocated, the December cashback will not be issued,” Honcharenko noted, suggesting that the idea of cashback is slowly fading away.

Earlier this month, Roksalana Pidlasa, who chairs the parliamentary budget committee, confirmed that the funds for the “Zelensky’s thousand” would indeed be drawn from the unemployment fund.