In 2024, more than half of the state budget expenditures were spent on defence. This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a Government meeting on 10 January.

“This year, the defence forces will be financed by over UAH 2.2 trillion, which is more than 26% of the country’s GDP. We place special emphasis on increasing the capacity of the Ukrainian defence industry. More drones, missiles, shells, artillery, armoured vehicles,” the Head of Government stressed.

According to the Prime Minister, great hopes will be placed on scaling up the so-called “Danish model”, whereby partners order weapons from Ukrainian defence companies for the needs of Ukraine.

Denys Shmyhal also noted that the Government was y following the priorities set in the civilian spending sector. Thus, social payments last year were financed on time and in full: over UAH 730 billion in pensions and almost UAH 180 billion in social benefits.

“In education, we allocated UAH 7.5 billion for school shelters, UAH 2 billion for meals for primary school students, UAH 1.5 billion for the reform of the New Ukrainian School, and UAH 549 million for the renovation of vocational school workshops,” the Prime Minister said.

In the healthcare sector, UAH 155.6 billion was paid under the medical guarantee programme. This includes almost UAH 5 billion for rehabilitation, UAH 5.2 billion for the affordable medicines programme, and over UAH 749 million for the programme of dental prosthetics and dental treatment for military personnel and veterans. According to the Head of Government, this year medical guarantees have been expanded and their funding will amount to over UAH 175.5 billion.