Ukraine to spend 2.6 trillion UAH on defense in 2025, topping 30% of projected GDP

Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the parliamentary budget committee, announced the update. She said this amount equals 31.1% of Ukraine’s projected GDP for 2025.

Pidlasa emphasized that Ukraine has consistently ranked first in the world for defense spending as a share of GDP. For comparison, Israel ranks second, allocating 8.8% of its GDP to defense, according to SIPRI.

Last year, Ukraine outspent Israel on defense by $20 billion—even in absolute numbers.

Pidlasa noted that in the first half of 2025, Ukraine plans to direct 62.5% of its general fund expenditures toward defense. After the changes, that share will reach 59% of the general fund (potentially more in practice), and 66% of all expenditures.

She stressed that Ukraine raises this entire amount domestically through internal revenues and borrowing. International partners, with the exception of the UK, do not allow their assistance to be used for defense.

“The real question is whether this restriction makes sense, especially when Russia’s war budget stands at $140–150 billion—nearly two and a half times larger than Ukraine’s,” Pidlasa said.

• Defense spending is becoming a litmus test for the quality of public governance. In the coming years, the frontrunners won’t be the countries that spend the most, but those that succeed in combining national security with innovation-driven development. In this new global paradigm, Ukraine could gain more than it did before the war.