Fedorov is gone: what will happen to his plan to increase defence spending by US$5.5 billion?

Because of higher pay for military personnel, the government needs to amend the state budget. However, following the resignation of defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, those changes have been thrown into doubt. Will the government still have enough money to cover military salaries?

During the years of Russia's full-scale invasion, several political traditions have emerged in Ukraine. Every spring, the government prepares for elections, while every summer it reshuffles cabinet ministers, often sparking public protests. The most consistent tradition, however, has been the revision of the defence budget halfway through the process of approving the following year's state budget.

There is an objective reason behind this pattern: the financial cost of the war has risen each year. By repeatedly revising spending proposals, the government is simply bringing the budget into line with reality.

This year, although parliament had approved a record increase of UAH 1.5 trillion (US$33 billion), those changes did not take into account the military pay reform introduced by former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

Following Fedorov's resignation, the government's economic team has been left to decide how much additional defence funding the budget should receive and what that money should be spent on.