Former Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov hopes that the projects he launched at the Ministry of Defense will continue, predicting that in August there will already be the first major payments to military personnel on the front line.
He said this during a stream on the YouTube channel of former adviser Serhiy Sternenko, responding to a question about whether the reforms and initiatives proposed by his team would continue.
"It is difficult for me to predict. I hope that everything will continue," stated Fedorov.
He assured that he would do everything to ensure "that this continues." According to the ex-minister, "revolutionary projects" were launched during his tenure.
"We indeed launched a large number of revolutionary projects, made mistakes in some places, but overall – new contracts, terms of service, and it is important to start fulfilling the promise to begin discharging people who have been serving in the army since 2022 and earlier starting in October. It is important that the payments we established continue – plus UAH 10 thousand, both for infantry and assault troops. And very soon, I think, in August for July there will already be the first such major payments to assault troops and infantry – this includes UAH 300 thousand and UAH 400 thousand. We hope that everything will continue. I certainly didn’t see anyone today having the intention to deliberately shut anything down. There is an effort to support all of this," told Fedorov.
However, he noted that it is difficult to predict how operationally possible it will be to support all launched projects going forward, as the country faces a difficult situation, in particular, a large budget deficit.
In June, Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov announced the rollout of new Defense Forces contracts with fixed terms of service and guaranteed deferrals.
According to him, the new contracts provide for fixed terms of service, guaranteed deferrals after completion, a new system of financial support, and more predictability and control over one’s own service.
On June 12, the Ministry of Defense explained that payments would primarily increase for those performing tasks with a higher level of risk. This concerns service members on the front line, where average financial support can reach around UAH 300 thousand. Additional pay will be calculated as follows: strike-and-search operations – UAH 20 thousand/day; on position – UAH 10 thousand/day; assault operations to advance forward – UAH 40 thousand/day.
At the same time, basic financial support for military personnel in the rear has been increased from UAH 20 to 30 thousand through an additional allowance of UAH 10 thousand.
For whom else payments will be increased: UAH 50 thousand – financial support for logisticians, clerks, mechanics in frontline areas; UAH 70 thousand will be received by military personnel serving in command posts in combat areas; UAH 120 thousand will be received by UAV pilots, UGV operators, and artillerists at combat positions.
