A bill proposing amendments to the Tax Code to exempt the supply of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) from the 20% value added tax has been registered on the Verkhovna Rada website. This was reported on the parliament’s website, while LB.ua also received confirmation from Nina Yuzhanina, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy.
According to Yuzhanina, a meeting of the relevant committee is tentatively scheduled for Monday, 25 May.
If MPs agree to shorten the 14-day deadline for submitting alternative draft laws, the committee will be able to consider and recommend the provision at that meeting, after which it could proceed to a vote in the Verkhovna Rada’s plenary chamber.
The deadline for submitting the document for a parliamentary vote may be reduced to a minimum of seven days from the date the bill was registered on the Rada’s website — that is, from 19 May.
“It is absolutely essential that the Tax Committee considers the draft during the next plenary week and that Parliament adopts it in principle and in its entirety,” the MP added.
Since the beginning of 2026, the supply of ground-based robotic systems to units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has effectively ceased. The reason is a legislative conflict: after the VAT exemption for electric vehicles expired on 1 January, ground-based robotic systems, which had previously been supplied under the same rules, were automatically excluded from the exemption. Air and sea drones are covered by a separate exemption, but no such provision exists for ground-based systems.
The Ukrainian Council of Defence Industry highlighted the need for an urgent resolution to the issue back in February. At the time, an interministerial meeting involving the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Finance, the State Tax Service and the Defence Procurement Agency was held, with all parties supporting amendments to the Tax Code. However, the provision has so far remained stalled at the level of the relevant Verkhovna Rada committee.
A follow-up meeting took place on 15 May. On 19 May, the relevant draft law appeared on the Rada’s website.