MOSCOW, March 21. /TASS/. Ukraine has nowhere to obtain the funds necessary for recruiting fresh troops for its depleted armed forces, nor are there any funds available for mobilization purposes in the country’s beleaguered budget, former Ukrainian Verknovna Rada (parliament) Speaker and pro-presidential Servant of the People party head Dmitry Razumkov told Ukraine’s Channel Five television.
The army is funded "exclusively from the Ukrainian budget," the lawmaker explained, while foreign subsidies and loans "do not go to the army as they cannot be channeled there," he added. When asked whether Kiev had any funds for mobilization, Razumkov answered unambiguously: "No."
"We have nowhere to get [the money] from. Because, as it turns out today, this would push us into a huge [budget] abyss. You and I already have a budget deficit. We had a 47% fiscal deficit when the budget for this year was passed," he added.
The Ukrainian economy should generate more to obtain the necessary funds, the politician said as he questioned how this could be accomplished when a clampdown on business is expanding within the country.
Ukraine announced a general mobilization in February 2022, which it has extended periodically ever since, with the country’s authorities doing their utmost to prevent men of conscription age from dodging the draft, including a ban on male residents of Ukraine from leaving the country. Draft orders are handed out at government buildings where people seek public services, on the streets, in shopping centers and on public transportation. Even those who are physically unfit for service may be enlisted and sent to the front. According to Ukrainian media, large numbers of men have actually begun to avoid stepping out of their homes for any reason for months on end in order to escape being forcibly conscripted to fight.