Zelenskyy identified two major challenges facing Ukraine
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the lack of ballistics and funding for defense are Ukraine’s main global challenges.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made
these remarks during a meeting with journalists on August 23.
“We are expecting 30 billion euros in European funding. This funding is contingent on the passage of the relevant legislation. And here it is very important that Parliament works—the entire Parliament, including the opposition. Because neither the government nor the opposition has these 30 billion, and they are needed for the defense of the entire country,” Zelenskyy said.
In addition, Ukraine currently has a budget deficit of $27 billion in the Ministry of Defense.
According to the president, at the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Defense made decisions to use funds intended for the second half of the year in the first half, and this money went toward the production of drones and other needs.
Now, in the second half of the year, we need to compensate for this and allocate additional funds.
“This is the main challenge. We need 8–10 billion of that to ensure a smooth start to next year, because this money is essentially needed in advance—to provide weapons and everything necessary for January 2027. Plus, nearly 20 billion goes toward our military’s salaries, payments to the families of the fallen, and other funding priorities. We need a lot of money,” Zelenskyy noted.
The president explained that he is working on this issue with the leaders of France and Germany: “In fact, we need to bring forward the second tranche of European funds that were earmarked for Ukraine, and this is an extremely difficult task.”
As a reminder, Yuriy Ignat, head of the Communications Department of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, previously reported that Ukraine is facing a serious shortage of missiles for its air defense systems.
