How much does war cost? Ukraine’s Prime Minister reveals military spending since January
Photo: Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
In the first four months of 2025, Ukraine spent 449 billion hryvnias from the state budget’s general fund on the Armed Forces, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
Shmyhal said that from January to April, Ukraine allocated a total of 1.2 trillion hryvnias from the general fund for priority expenditures, including:
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365 billion hryvnias for military salaries;
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nearly 84 billion hryvnias for purchasing equipment, weapons, ammunition, and food for the Defense Forces.
"In total, over 60% of all general fund spending went to security and defense," he added.
According to the Prime Minister, funding the Defense Forces has been the government’s top priority since the start of the full-scale war.
Defense spending
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal recently said Ukraine may change its state budget due to rising war-related expenses, as international aid has declined this year.
In mid-April, Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko stated that military spending in 2025 had exceeded the levels originally planned in the budget.
Last year, Ukraine raised taxes on its citizens to cover the growing costs of national defense.
