A $27 billion shortfall in budget spending is part of the overall $155bn that Ukraine set out at the start of the year as the amount needed to wage the war.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Serhii Koretskyi said this in an interview with TSN, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.
The head of government recalled that this figure was declared during a meeting in the Ramstein format in February this year. The stated amount covers both direct state budget spending and military assistance from international partners in the form of weapons, including missiles for Patriot systems, launchers, aircraft and other equipment.
Koretskyi stressed that the shortfall in question is not a new additional requirement, but only part of previously calculated funds for which sources of coverage have not yet been found.
The head of government said that the government plans to cover about $7bn of this amount through strict austerity, spending optimisation and internal reallocation of resources. To that end, funding for a number of cultural programmes has already been suspended, as have payments of arrears for road repairs and new projects under the “Resilience Plans”.