If army isn't funded, Russians will be near Kyiv: Ukrainian government mulls raising taxes

Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee on Finance and Tax Policy, said this in an interview with Telegraph.

"When we choose between life and money, we certainly choose life. So we will probably have to make this decision," he said.

Hetmantsev said that the Cabinet of Ministers is preparing proposals to raise certain taxes, but there are no exact figures for new VAT and military duty rates.

At the same time, he believes that the consequences of the tax increase will be calculated by the government.

"But the consequences for the economy if the army is unfunded can be much worse, fatal. Sometimes it seems that society is in a paradigm of whether to raise taxes or not. But we don't really have such a paradigm. Because if there is no money to finance the army, no shells, no weapons, the Russians will be near our capital, for example. Or, to prevent this, we will raise taxes, and so we will all finance these shells at our own expense," Hemantsev emphasized.

• On May 27, it was reported that the government was preparing to increase Ukraine's value-added tax and military duty, but the final parameters would be known after June.