The chairman of the budget committee stood behind the podium for more than 10 hours — this is a record

The head of the budget committee Roksolana Pidlasa spent 10 hours and 25 minutes behind the rostrum in the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) as a speaker — this is a record. Parliamentarians considered draft law No. 10038, which provides for an increase in state budget expenditures by UAH 317 billion.

Almost UAH 303 billion of this amount is proposed to be directed to defense needs. In particular, the following increase in spending is proposed:

• UAH 195.7 billion for the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
• UAH 39.7 billion for the National Guard;
• UAH 20.4 billion for the State Border Service;
• UAH 19 billion for the National Police;
• UAH 13.2 billion for procurement and modernization of military equipment and armaments of the Armed Forces;
• UAH 4.4 billion for the Ministry of Strategy and Industry for the production of weapons and ammunition in Ukraine;
• UAH 4.2 billion for the Security Service of Ukraine;
• UAH 2.5 billion for the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense;
• UAH 2.1 billion for the State Special Transport Service of the Ministry of Defense;
• UAH 570.2 million for State Special Communications;
• UAH 500.7 million for the Foreign Intelligence Service;
• UAH 230.5 million for the State Security Department;
• UAH 151 million for rewards to cadets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In addition, according to Pidlasa, this draft law provides for an increase in expenditures for assistance to internally displaced persons (+ UAH 16.5 billion), for the "quick recovery" of regions, and for the publication of school textbooks for the fifth and sixth grades (+ UAH 552.8 million)..

In the first reading, the draft law was supported on September 20, but before the second reading, peopleʼs deputies submitted 1 018 amendments. There are 30 amendments left before the end of the meeting — they will be considered tomorrow (October 6).