By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine’s parliament voted Tuesday to raise the war-torn country’s defense spending as it adopted an amendment to its budget for 2025.
The draft law, which proposed to raise state expenditures for national security and defense by about 324.7 billion Ukrainian hryvnia ($7.7 billion), was adopted in the first reading and as a whole. It has to be signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to take effect.
The Verkhovna Rada, or parliament, website said the document received the support of 297 lawmakers during the latest vote.
“This will help us fulfill our obligations to our defenders and ensure timely payment of salaries,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on Telegram about the adoption.
Svyrydenko went on to highlight that a major part of the funds will be paid for with interest from frozen Russian assets, part of the EU's contribution to the G7-led Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loans initiative.
Separately, Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko stated that the country’s government has sources to provide the additional expenses needed by the military.
“We understand that the situation is constantly changing, and therefore an increase in expenditures for effective resistance to aggression is a necessity,” Marchenko was quoted in a statement by the ministry.
The Verkhovna Rada approved an increase to defense spending of about 412.3 billion Ukrainian hryvnia in July.
The increase comes as fierce fighting continues between Russian and Ukrainian forces amid the more than three-and-a-half-year war, with diplomatic efforts to end the conflict having largely stalled in recent weeks.