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A no-revenue budget? Azaronak doubled Ukraine's dependence on Western financing
The country does run a deficit due to the war, but it covers most of its spending with its own revenues.
Ukraine adopted a fully subsidized state budget for the first time in history, Ryhor Azaronak claimed on his show "Azaronak. Directly." The Weekly Top Fake team found he was more than half wrong.
Ryhor Azaronak claimed Ukraine had become 100% beholden to the West on October 23, 2025:
"Ukraine just adopted a budget. This is the first budget in history that's entirely subsidized. Entirely. Not a single revenue line!"
Ukraine's 2026 budget relies on substantial external financing to cover expenditures. The deficit is projected at almost UAH 2 trillion, or $41.5 billion, while total budget spending comes to nearly 5 trillion hryvnias. More than half of that amount will be covered by the country's own revenues. They're expected to be nearly one-fifth higher than in 2025.
Ukraine's spending has significantly exceeded its revenues since the war began, with 40-50% of necessary expenditures unable to be covered by the country's revenues — mainly due to high defense costs. The 2026 draft budget allocates roughly 3 trillion hryvnias for defense.
The war hits the budget not only through military spending. Russia has occupied nearly 20% of the country's territory. Fighting prevents harvest collection and drives up social spending and other costs.
