The Verkhovna Rada amended the state budget for 2026: expenditures on security and defense were increased by 1.56 trillion hryvnias. Separately — 559.1 million hryvnias for energy sector needs. The vote took place after Ukraine received the next credit tranche from the European Union.
The mechanism is simple: external financing allows for an increase in spending without formally unbalancing the budget. However, this is a loan, not a grant — the debt burden grows along with defense appropriations.
1.56 trillion hryvnias is not an abstraction. For comparison: Ukraine's entire pre-war state budget in 2021 was approximately 1.3 trillion hryvnias. This means a single budget amendment exceeds the annual budget of the country from four years ago.
The allocation of 559.1 million hryvnias for energy appears more modest, but reflects a separate logic: energy infrastructure is not only a civilian necessity but also a direct military vulnerability. Strikes on substations and power generation facilities throughout 2024–2025 have made energy de facto part of the defense perimeter.
The key question that the budget amendment does not resolve: is there a public mechanism to control how exactly these 1.56 trillion hryvnias will be spent — and will it appear before the money is disbursed?
