"$27 billion is not enough for Ukraine's defense" — Yevgeny Khmara

**Yevgeny Khmara: $27 billion is not enough for Ukraine's defense, but there are solutions**

Ukraine's defense financing is currently experiencing a $27 billion shortfall. However, the Ministry of Defense has developed several options for solving this problem. This was announced by Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevgeny Khmara at a meeting with journalists on August 29.

According to the minister, the first direction is to attract part of the European loan funds for 2027 ahead of schedule.

The second direction is to work with countries that have not yet joined the European initiative to support Ukraine or to attract countries that can increase their contributions within the framework of this initiative.

Khmara noted that the Ministry of Defense has identified partner countries with whom separate negotiations will be held in order to attract additional funds for specific defense needs.

“Ukraine will present a clear vision and plan to its partners. It will reflect the tasks facing the Defense Forces, practical projects, expected results and deadlines for their implementation,” the Defense Minister said.

**Previous situation and financial problems**

On August 25, Sergei Rakhmanin, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, told Radio NV that the former head of the Defense Ministry, Mikhail Fedorov, had complicated the ministry’s financial situation.

On July 15, Fedorov himself, ending his tenure as Defense Minister, announced that his team had taken over the ministry without a budget. He said that he had used the funds allocated for the end-of-year military personnel’s financial support to purchase medium-range strike vehicles, fiber-optic FPV drones, low-cost reconnaissance vehicles, ground robotic complexes, interceptor drones, and long-range strike drones.

On August 9, Ukraine's new Prime Minister, Serhiy Koretsky, announced that the government, and in particular the Ministry of Finance, is seeking additional funds to fully cover all necessary expenses of the Defense Forces by the end of this year.

Since early August, Ukrainian politicians and the military have been warning of a potentially severe winter ahead. In particular, this may be due to the lack of air defenses to repel Russian attacks.