First Deputy Mayor of Lviv Andriy Moskalenko spoke about the military budget of the city in 2023. As of today, about 13.5% of the entire city budget goes to support the military. It is expected that by the end of the year it will be 16% and will amount to 2.1 billion hryvnias. This is the largest amount of funds since independence.
As Andriy Moskalenko told, the total size of Lviv’s budget (general fund and development budget) is about UAH 13.7 billion. These funds are used to pay salaries, maintain schools, kindergartens, hospitals, clean streets, parks, cemeteries, illuminate the city, provide water and heat, energy sources and everything that is needed for the city to live every day.
For example, more than 30% of the total budget goes to education. These are salaries and energy carriers, current expenses and educational programs. About 16% goes to critical infrastructure – this is the so-called housing and communal services block. About 7% goes to various social protection programs for residents. In total, in Lviv since the beginning of the year, various social benefits have been paid to residents 260,000 times.
According to the first deputy mayor of Lviv, this year the city is directing the largest amount of money to the army during the entire period of independence.
“In 2023, from the sum of 13.7 billion UAH, 1.85 billion UAH will go to support the military. Although the amount is expected to increase to UAH 2.1 billion by the end of the year. Accordingly, as of today, about 13.5% of the entire city budget goes to support the military. It is expected to be 16% by the end of the year. This is the largest amount of funds since independence.
During the formation of the budget, UAH 500 million was laid down for the Armed Forces support program. The authors of this program are all heads of city hall factions. These funds are used to buy UAVs, jeeps, Starlinks, military transport, fuel… and much more. During the year, this amount was increased by another 250 million hryvnias at the session of the Lviv City Council. Considering the needs of the military, this amount is expected to increase to UAH 1 billion by the end of this year, and maybe even more. Also, from this amount, direct subsidies are paid to military units to buy things that help them speed up our victory.
Another UAH 680 million worth of state military bonds were purchased in 2023 to support the Armed Forces.
Another 199 million hryvnias are funds for the repair of the premises of various departments where the wounded are treated and rehabilitated, as well as for the construction of military rehabilitation centers. This is only the amount of the contribution from the city – the rest of the funds are raised from partners from abroad, sister cities and foundations. Mostly, the contribution of the city is 20-30%. The rest are funds from partner cities, foundations, and private companies, for which we are very grateful.
Another UAH 88 million is for a project where military personnel will live temporarily after rehabilitation. The term of their stay in such special campuses will be from six months to a year. To fully recover. A grant of 19.5 million euros from the European Union was also involved here. But UAH 88 million from the budget will be co-financed by the city.
Another 8.9 million hryvnias – for the arrangement of the National Medical Center for veterans. This is a joint project with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. The first such TSNAPs will be opened already this year.
More than UAH 54 million is for business support vouchers. In particular, part of those funds go to support veteran business and support dual-use products (military tech). The amount of the grant is UAH 300,000 each. We invite everyone to participate.
And another fresh Dual Purpose Invention Support Program. We need more drones. And in order to stimulate an even greater emergence of local manufacturers, Lviv will provide grants for the production of drones – up to UAH 1 million. And after production, they will also be handed over to the military. All details are on the Facebook page of the Entrepreneurship Support Center.
Various social benefits for the military – more than UAH 7.3 million.
About UAH 19.7 million is for the support program for military families – UAH 50,000 each for children whose father or mother died in the war.
Also, a special socio-cultural program for military recovery “The City Heals” works in the city. This is another 500,000 hryvnias.
About UAH 13.5 million is aid to military administrations from other cities. These are excavators, cranes, trucks – everything that is necessary to overcome the consequences of attacks and rebuild cities that are under constant fire.
There are several other military support programs, which, unfortunately, I cannot publicly write about, because they are adopted in closed mode,” Andriy Moskalenko explained.
In general, about 13.5% of Lviv’s budget directly or indirectly goes to support the military as of today. Follow all the programs on the Lviv City Council website.
It should be noted that according to the results of the analysis of the NGO “Committee of Voters of Ukraine”, Lviv was among the leaders of the cities with the largest expenditures for the support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.