Pervomaisk councillors did not support the motion to return ₴40 billion to the Armed Forces of Ukraine: a dispute broke out in the council chamber

Speeches by councillors Ruslan Tsymbaliuk and Yevhen Tsushko. Screenshot from the live broadcast of the council meeting.

Members of the Pervomaisk City Council did not support the inclusion on the agenda of a draft appeal to the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers demanding a review of approaches to the financial and social support of military personnel. In particular, the document proposed calling on the central government to return 40 billion hryvnias to the Armed Forces.

This came to light during the session of the Pervomaisk City Council on 25 June.

The councillors drafted the document after the Verkhovna Rada adopted amendments to the state budget, whereby 40 billion hryvnias, previously earmarked for the procurement of weapons, were reallocated to the reserve fund.

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During the approval of the session’s agenda, Ruslan Tsymbaliuk, a councillor from the «European Solidarity» faction, called on his colleagues to support the consideration of the appeal. He stated that, in the context of a full-scale war, cuts to defence funding are unacceptable.

«An unfortunate incident has occurred at a time when our country is at war with an aggressor: 40 billion hryvnias have been withdrawn from the Ministry of Defence. This is happening whilst the whole country is raising funds for barbed wire, communications equipment and body armour. When local communities are raising funds for drones and military equipment. Such funds are being withdrawn. This is ill-timed. We need to invest more in defence. There is not enough money for military purposes or for soldiers’ salaries,» said Ruslan Tsymbaliuk.

Yevhen Tsushko, an councillor from the «Servant of the People» party, spoke out against including the issue on the agenda. He described the proposed motion as ‘strange’ and stated that its authors were ignoring the Verkhovna Rada’s latest decisions.

According to the councillor, on 10 June, parliament passed Bill №15224 at its second reading, which provides for an increase in expenditure on the security and defence sector using funds from a reparations loan.

«Such a draft appeal by «European Solidarity» to the central government is surprising. It suggests that the initiators of the appeal either do not read the news or are unaware of what their party colleagues are doing in parliament. On 10 June, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Bill No. 15224,» said Yevhen Tsushko.

He noted that the document provides for an increase in defence funding of more than one trillion hryvnias.

«This bill proposes to use funds from the reparations loan derived from frozen Russian assets to increase state budget expenditure on national security and defence by 1 trillion 56 billion hryvnias. Of this, 174.2 billion hryvnias is earmarked for the pay of military personnel, and 1.37 trillion for armaments and military equipment,» the councillor emphasised.

Yevhen Tsushko also stated that the “European Solidarity” faction in the Verkhovna Rada did not support this bill and tabled five blocking motions, which delayed its entry into force.

In response, Ruslan Tsymbaliuk criticised his opponent’s speech.

«Here’s someone who can’t even read what’s written down for them. She read something out — who dictated it to her? But in essence, it says nothing. Even if some subsidies have been increased, there has been no basic pay rise for military personnel; these are just bonuses, handouts. And as for the trillion having been transferred — I’m not even aware of that; it hasn’t been publicised anywhere, and nowhere does it say that the funds have actually been received,» replied the councillor.

Following the discussion, councillors voted to include this issue on the agenda. Ten council members voted «for», one voted «against», one abstained, and a further 14 councillors did not take part in the vote. The motion did not secure the required number of votes, so the appeal was not brought before the session for consideration.

Voting results. Screenshot from the live broadcast of the session

It should be noted that members of the Mykolaiv City Council have also been urged to appeal to the President, the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to review their approaches to the financial and social support of defenders, in particular to return 40 billion hryvnias to support the military, which the Government had previously decided to withdraw from the Ministry of Defence’s budget for other purposes.