Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the draft budget's expenditures on security and defense are four times bigger compared to the previous year, amounting to Hr 1.136 trillion ($30.7 billion). The deficit is set at over $3 billion per month. The draft budget is yet to be approved by the Ukrainian parliament.
The strikes are a part of Ukraine's ongoing "long-range sanctions" campaign targeting Russia's military-industrial and energy infrastructure deep behind the front line, as Kyiv seeks to impose higher costs on Moscow's war effort.
A Russian strike on a children's playground in Kherson left a father dead and his family seriously wounded.
The number includes 1,160 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
The latest estimates appear to be significantly higher than figures published earlier this month by independent Russian media outlets Mediazona and Meduza that estimated 352,000 Russian men between the ages of 18 and 59 have been killed since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The move comes as European countries seek to strengthen regional defense cooperation amid growing uncertainty about U.S. security commitments.
The injured included a 36-year-old woman and her two daughters, ages 3 and 6. The girls' father was also killed in the attack, police later confirmed.
"Our goal is to increase the pressure on the Russians in the rear even further and prevent them from carrying out active assault operations," Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said.
The Kyiv Independent’s Martin Fornusek speaks with Kaupo Rosin, director general of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, about Russia’s long-term strategy against Ukraine and Europe, the risks facing NATO’s eastern flank, and why Moscow still views the United States as its main adversary.
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