KIEV (Sputnik) — Ukraine's draft budget for 2018 stipulates allocating 164.9 billion hryvhas ($6.34 billion) to the defense and security sector, which is a 14.8 percent increase compared to 2017, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said Friday.
"The defense budget will increase — 164.9 billion hryvhas will be allocated in 2018. This is the salary of our soldiers, high-quality technical equipment and armament," Groysman said, when presenting the draft state budget at the cabinet meeting.
He noted that the government had allocated 143.6 billion hryvhas ($5.5 billion) to the defense needs this year.
Defense budgets of other European countries account for less than 5 percent of GDP. Among NATO members in Europe only several countries even reach the target of 2 percent that the US proclaims.
