Finance minister: Ukraine's budget lacks $5 billion for military spending

There is a gap in Ukraine's state budget of $5 billion needed for military expenditures, Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko said in an interview with Hromadske Radio on May 22.

After the U.S. passed a long-awaited $61 billion aid package, the new funds covered Ukraine's social and humanitarian expenditures, Marchenko said.

"In practice, we have a big fiscal problem, an unresolved issue of military expenditures," Marchenko said.

Ukraine received minimal military assistance over the past six months from partners, which has put a strain on the budget in terms of additional military expenditures, according to the minister.

"At the moment, I think we can talk about a figure of about $5 billion... We are thinking about how we will cover it (the deficit) in the near future," Marchenko said.

Ukraine's $40 billion defense budget for this year includes $6 billion for arms procurement, Strategic Industries Minister Alexander Kamyshin said in April.

Kyiv received $1.5 billion in loans from the World Bank in late March. The private financing arm of the World Bank plans to invest $1.9 billion in projects in Ukraine over the next 18 months, Reuters reported in April.