Zelensky announces higher teacher salaries and student scholarships

Despite the war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced higher teacher salaries and scholarships for Ukrainian students for the coming year.

“I instructed that all social obligations of our state be fully met and that support for people be increased,” he said in his evening video message on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko had earlier presented him with the key points of the budget draft for the coming year.

“The resources for this are in place. Overall, education spending for the year will increase by 66 billion hryvnias [$1.6 billion],” said Zelensky. An increase is also planned for health care.

The day before, the Ukrainian government had completed its budget draft for the year 2026. This envisages a deficit of 18.4% of economic output, or about €40.5 billion ($48 billion). Expenditure is set to rise by approximately €8.5 billion.

For defence purposes, nearly €3.5 billion more is planned. For pension increases, over €2.5 billion is to be spent additionally.

Kiev expects payments from abroad amounting to almost €43 billion, or 43% of the total budget.

Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three and a half years with Western assistance.

According to Ukrainian sources, over €122 billion in aid and loans from abroad have since been used to finance budget expenditures.