European Solidarity calls on Zelenskyy to veto 2026 state budget to increase payments to military
The faction of the European Solidarity party in the Verkhovna Rada calls on President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to veto the 2026 state budget approved by the parliament because it does not provide for payments to military personnel, said co-chair of the faction Iryna Gerashchenko.
"The Supreme Commander-in-Chief must listen to the army, which is outraged by this budget, and veto it! We have a few weeks until the start of 2026 to review the budget and do right for the army by increasing military pay," Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook.
According to her, the political force proposed reducing spending on logistics structures and state authorities and redirecting the funds to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They found an additional UAH 68 billion in the budget for this purpose. The faction also proposed voting on the budget item by item. However, in the end, they did not vote for the budget or the Verkhovna Rada's estimate, Gerashchenko emphasized.
On Wednesday, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Ukraine's 2026 state budget with revenues of UAH 2.9 trillion and expenditures of UAH 4.82 trillion. This is UAH 0.4 trillion and UAH 0.12 billion more than the 2025 state budget figures, respectively. The main budget item is Ukraine's defense and security, for which UAH 2.81 trillion (27.2% of GDP) has been allocated, including UAH 1.27 trillion for wages and accruals and UAH 0.71 trillion for armaments and military equipment.
Opposition MPs, including representatives of the European Solidarity, Holos, and Batkivschyna factions, as well as non-faction members, criticized the budget law.
