Ukraine will spend a total of 7 billion hryvnyas (about 264 million U.S. dollars) for military modernization projects this year, which is 40 percent more than in 2015, the country's Defence Ministry said Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
| Ukraine will spend 40% more budget to overhaul its armed forces in 2016 |
The funds will be used for developing and purchasing new weapons and military equipment for the Ukrainian army, said the statement on the ministry's website. The Defence Ministry has already clinched 54 contracts with Ukraine's state-owned enterprises totally worth about 75 million dollars on supplies of new equipment and weapons, the statement said. This year, Ukraine has increased its total defense budget by 11 percent to a record-high of 3.8 billion dollars in response to the conflict in the eastern part of the country between government troops and pro-independence insurgents. In 2015, the East European country spent 188 million dollars for purchasing 3,756 units of armaments and military equipment and nearly 402,500 items of ammunition for its Armed Forces |
