The Verkhovna Rada failed to support seven blocking resolutions seeking to cancel the vote on the second reading and as a whole of bill No. 15224 on amendments to the 2026 state budget to increase expenditures by UAH 1.56 trillion for the security and defense sector, thereby unlocking the signing of the law by Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk.
As reported by an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, during an extraordinary session of parliament on Thursday, June 18, none of the seven resolutions to cancel the law gathered the necessary number of votes – against the required minimum of 226 votes, the resolutions received between 18 and 24 votes.
The initiators of the blocking resolutions are Anna Skorokhod (Za maybutnye), Iryna Gerashchenko (co-chair of the European Solidarity faction), Artur Herasimov (co-chair of the European Solidarity faction), Nina Yuzhanina (European Solidarity), Mariya Yonova, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze (European Solidarity), and Sofiya Fedyna (European Solidarity).
The initiators of the blocking resolutions believe that the funds directed to the reserve fund will be spent by the government without targeted designation. They also drew attention to the financial support for the military, for which, according to the authors of the resolutions, no funds are available.
In addition, Nina Yuzhanina cited data from the report of the Accounting Chamber for the first quarter of 2026 and noted that the report contains criticisms of the government’s actions and points to the need to streamline expenditures and the impermissibility of spending funds from the state budget reserve fund in the manner planned by the government.
Commenting on the blocking resolutions, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Holos faction) remarked that while the government continues the "National Cashback" programs and spends funds on them, there remains a gap in funding for increasing military salaries and army reforms.
Rada Speaker Stefanchuk noted that the cancellation of the law could have led to a delay in the receipt of financial assistance from the European Union. This, in turn, would have a negative impact on meeting the needs of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, particularly regarding the maintenance of high rates of targeting the adversary with unmanned systems at medium and long distances, as well as the suspension of contracting for certain types of weapons and military equipment by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine due to the absence of corresponding key allocations.
Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk signed the law immediately. Moving forward, it will be sent for the signature of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
As reported, the Rada approved the draft law in the second reading and as a whole on June 10, supported by 242 MPs.
The document provides for an increase in expenditures on the security and defense sector by UAH 1.56 trillion, planned primarily through the Ukraine Support Loan (USL) from the European Union.
The law was approved taking into account the prior allocation of over UAH 1.3 billion from the Reserve Fund: UAH 559.1 million for the apparatus of the Ministry of Energy, UAH 127.5 million for the liquidation of mines, UAH 46.1 million for the State Energy Supervision Inspectorate, and UAH 599.1 million for the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management (of which UAH 525.1 million is for the Shelter object). The direction of UAH 95 million to the apparatus of the National Committee of Sports for the Disabled, UAH 1.4 billion for payments to the Judicial Security Service, and the calculation of NABU salaries based on a living wage of UAH 3,328 instead of UAH 3,028 without changing the total expenditures of the bureau were also supported.
As noted by Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko, after the amendments are introduced, expenditures on security and defense will total a record UAH 4.4 trillion: UAH 2.3 trillion will be directed toward the purchase of weapons and military equipment, and over UAH 1.45 trillion toward the financial support of military personnel.
