In 2016, the army could receive more than twenty new types of weapons / Photo from facebook.com/theministryofdefence.ua
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has acknowledged that Ukraine cannot afford more than 3% of its GDP on defense, as the military burden on the budget and social sectors is already significant.
"Almost 3% of GDP on defense is a lot, compared with almost 1% neglected by the governments in the middle 2000s," the president said in his annual address to parliament in Kyiv on Tuesday.
"But it's a small amount for a country at war. Unfortunately, we cannot afford more, and that's true.
"The military burden on the budget and social sectors is already critically high.
"The army still needs society's support and the state is thankful to everyone whose initiative strengthens the country's defensive capacity," he added.
Poroshenko said that all types of resources at the disposal of the aggressor, against whom Ukrainian soldiers daily encounter in Donbas, considerably exceeds the Ukrainian army's potential.
"It's not by times, but by an order of magnitude greater. Nothing can be done," he said.
Poroshenko also shared plans about arming, adding that in 2016 the Ministry of Defense could receive more than twenty new types of weapons.
"Last year, about two dozen new weapons were introduced. I think the Ministry of Defense will get another 20 this year," he said.
Read alsoPoroshenko on Ukraine's NATO membership: Quick approach may shut "automatic doors""Let me stress that we're only at the start of the military and technical modernization of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the president added.
He also recalled that last year, Ukraine exported weapons valued at more than US$1.3 billion. Further, export contracts for 2016 have already been signed for more than $1 billion.
"We export military hardware to more than 60 countries in order to be able to develop new technologies and grow the industrial base for the production of modern weapons, as well as obtain additional funds," he said.
"Let me stress – we do not export those types of weapons that are used by the Ukrainian army.
"Exports include those new types of equipment that are produced by enterprises of Ukraine's defense industry and are not part of the state defense order.
"The country's defense capacity cannot be weakened by any exports," he added.
As reported by UNIAN earlier, the 2016 budget foresees the financing of the country's defense sector at more than UAH 110 billion.
In particular, the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry budgets were increased by 21% to UAH 55.6 billion (about $2.14 billion) and UAH 40.8 billion (about $1.6 billion), respectively.