Ukrainian Lawmakers Urged to Postpone Resolution on Military Bonus

The head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, David Arakhamiya, said that leading Ministry of Defense and other security officials propose postponing consideration of the resolution on the payment of a bonus of Hr. 30,000 to military defenders.

 Instead, the group wants to create a senior-level joint working group and develop a bill that will regulate the bonuses with consideration given to the region served in and the complexity of the work.

 On Tuesday, May 2, Arakhamiya posted a copy of a letter from the group on Telegram that parliament received on April 10. He said that the senior officials outline their vision regarding personnel remuneration.

 According to the military, “the recently voted amendment does not resolve the issues related to the monetary reward, in particular, of conscripts and cadets.”

 "The military believes that [the current resolution] does not take into account the peculiarities of serving in different regions and performing tasks of varying degrees of complexity,” he wrote.

 “The authors of the letter propose to further develop a regulatory framework for the remuneration of defenders in a more differentiated manner and, most importantly, with the involvement of the command and representatives of the national security and defense sector,” noted the Deputy.

 The letter was signed by Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Serhiy Shaptala, Head of the State Border Service Serhiy Deineko, Commander of the National Guard Yuriy Lebid, and Head of the Security Service Vasyl Malyuk.

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 Instead, the security leaders propose “to assemble a working group of representatives of the Verkhovna Rada, the Cabinet of Ministers, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and jointly develop a draft law by the end of May that will regulate the issue of the remuneration of defenders.”

 In his Telegram post, Arakhamia announced “we will propose to Ukrainian lawmakers to postpone consideration of Resolution No. 8312-P and immediately create a working group proposed by the security leaders.”

 On April 10, the Verkhovna Rada voted in favor of a draft law with an amendment, restoring the bonus remuneration of Hr. 30,000 to Ukrainian military personnel who are away from the places of hostilities.

 However, on the same day, the Deputy from the "Golos" faction, Volodymyr Tsabal, submitted a resolution that blocked the signing of this bill by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, and therefore by the President. Until the document is considered, the Speaker cannot sign it and forward it for the President’s signature.

 Importantly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) noted that the bill the Verkhovna Rada adopted in April does not specify the sources of financing for these additional costs of more than $4 billion, so it may lead to an increase in the budget deficit in 2023. The recent $15.6 billion IMF loan requires that “new measures [by the Ukrainian government] that might erode tax revenues will be avoided.”