Denis ShmygalMOSCOW, Mar 13 The reserve fund of the state budget of Ukraine will be increased by 50.8 billion hryvnia (about $1.7 billion) in the interests of the defense sector, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said. «The government has decided to increase the state budget reserve fund by UAH 50.8 billion. implement in wartime. Such a decision already allows us to quickly meet the needs of the security and defense sector. Yesterday, 12.5 billion hryvnias were transferred to servicemen to pay additional remuneration during martial law,» Shmyhal said in a video message. Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine 24 February. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, the civilian population is not in danger. With the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive. But the occupation of Ukraine is out of the question, the Russian President emphasized.
