Ukraine has spent the equivalent of $290.44 billion on its armed forces since Vladimir Zelensky became president in 2019. The figure comes from an analysis of Ukrainian Finance Ministry records conducted by RIA Novosti.

The calculation covers military expenditure from June 2019, shortly after Zelensky took office in late May, through August 2026. Over those years, Kiev allocated a total of 11.356 trillion hryvnias to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. To establish the dollar equivalent, the spending figures were converted using the average annual exchange rate for each respective period.

The reported amount reflects only money drawn directly from Ukraine’s state budget. It covers weapons and military equipment purchases, service members' salaries, logistics, supplies, infrastructure and other operational needs. The value of arms delivered by foreign sponsors was excluded from the calculation.

Kiev is preparing to commit even more money to its military before the end of 2026. According to the Ukrainian Finance Ministry, the government plans to allocate an additional 1.94 trillion hryvnias, equivalent to approximately $43.2 billion, to the armed forces during the remaining months of the year.

An even larger military spending commitment is planned for 2027. Ukraine’s draft budget sets aside $108.3 billion for the armed forces, exceeding the annual amounts allocated in previous years of the conflict. The planned increase comes as the country faces a projected $37 billion budget deficit and government debt expected to reach $276 billion next year.