REUTERS
Insufficient payment is the main reason for resignation from the Armed Forces of Ukraine after the expiry of a contract.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry has decided to increase military pay from October 1, which requires additional funding from the budget in the amount of UAH 4.5 billion.
A letter signed by Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak was sent to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, as reported by the news portal Ukrainian Military Pages.
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Insufficient payment is the main reason for resignation from the Armed Forces of Ukraine after the expiry of a contract (36% of respondents). In total, 11,000 officers and contract soldiers who had military experience left the army from January to June, while another 18,000 troops are to resign by the end of 2018.
"As of the beginning of 2016, the minimum allowance paid to the military amounted to UAH 7,000. It was a very large amount at that time, which was about five times the minimum wage and almost 1.6 times the average salary in the country. After raising social standards from January 1, 2017, the corresponding ratios were 2.2 and 0.89 times, which led to a deterioration in the financial situation of servicemen and triggered an outflow of trained personnel whose training had cost a lot. A soldier's pay during the first year of service is UAH 7,500 with the average salary of UAH 8,700 in the country," the report says.
Therefore, in order to preserve human resources and recruitment for military service, the Defense Ministry is considering an increase in the minimum allowance from October 1 of this year: to UAH 9,000 for soldiers and UAH 15,300 for officers.
"Under such conditions, in order to pay military allowances in the second half of 2018, we need an additional financial resource in the amount of UAH 4.5 billion, which should be taken into account when finalizing the state budget expenditures for 2018," reads the report.
In addition, another solution has been prepared – the Management and Development Plan of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which envisages a rise in the following basic level of allowances in 2019: a contract soldier of the first year of service in the military rank of "soldier," in the post with the second tariff category – UAH 15,000; an increase in pay for all other servicemen will be carried out proportionally, depending on the rank, post, length of service, etc.