Kim: US spends $40,000 per year per veteran, Ukraine spends UAH 1,400
Minister for Veterans Affairs Vitaliy Kim believes that after the end of the war, the budget for veteran policy will need to be increased several times over.
Vitaliy Kim, the Minister for Veterans Affairs, has expressed concerns that Ukraine's budget for veteran policy is insufficient. During a press conference in Kyiv, Kim highlighted that the United States spends $40,000 per year for each of its 18 million veterans, Canada allocates around $27,000, and Australia provides between $31,000 and $35,000 per veteran. In contrast, dividing Ukraine's veteran budget by the number of veterans results in only UAH 1,400 per year per veteran, which Kim described as entirely inadequate.
Kim emphasized that no country has prior experience in successfully implementing veteran policy, describing it as a "bottomless pit for social investment" where it will always be insufficient and improvements are always possible. Despite this, Kim stressed that basic services must be provided to veterans and expressed a confident belief that budgets will need to be significantly increased after the war ends, as weapons and the ongoing conflict remain the current priority.
The draft state budget for 2027 has allocated UAH 3.2 billion, or 17.8%, more funding for the Ministry for Veterans Affairs compared to 2026, specifically reserving UAH 20.8 billion for the ministry's programs.
Written by urgent.news from Interfax-Ukraine's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
