Ukrainian Ministry of Defense calls for raising salaries for military personnel
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine requested an additional 4.5 billion hryvnias ($ 220 million USD) from the budget to raise salaries for the military, ukrmilitary.com reports, citing a letter from Minister of Defense Stepan Poltorak to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
The Ministry of Defense suggests raising the salary of troops to 9000 hryvnias ($436 USD) and of officers to 15,300 hryvnias ($741 USD) from October 1.
The letter explained that according to a survey, 36% of servicemen cited insufficient pay as one of the main causes for resignation from the Armed Forces of Ukraine after the end of their contract. From January to June, about eleven thousand officers and contract soldiers with military experience resigned and another eighteen thousand may resign before the end of this year.
“At the beginning of 2016, the minimum payment for the military was 7,000 UAH (260 US dollars). It was a significant amount at the time, about 5 times the minimum wage and more than 50% higher than the average wage in the country. After raising social standards in January 1, 2017, soldiers’ pay decreased to double the minimum wage and 89% of the average wage standard, leading to deterioration in military welfare. This provoked outflow of specialists while a lot of funds were spent on their training already,” the letter said.