KIEV (Sputnik) – The Ukrainian cabinet of ministers submitted $4.8 billion to next year’s budget on defense spending, totaling 5 percent of GDP and marking an increase of $560 million from this year, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said Wednesday.
President Petro Poroshenko argued earlier that the country could not afford to spend more than 3 percent of GDP on defense.
"We have identified the cost of 129 billion hryvnia ($4.8 billion) on the entire defense complex, which is 15 billion hryvnia ($560 million) more than last year. This corresponds to 5 percent of GDP," Groysman told lawmakers.
Groysman said the draft budget was planned to be submitted for parliamentary debate and ratification late on Thursday.
