Ministry of Veterans Affairs suspends payments under 'Veteran Sport' programme due to budget exhaustion

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine has officially announced the suspension of the 'Veteran Sport' programme for the current month. The primary reason is the complete exhaustion of financial resources allocated for the project's implementation, as well as the inability to secure additional funds from the state budget at this stage.

Demand significantly exceeded forecasts

When forming the budget for 2026, 600 million hryvnia was allocated for the programme. This amount was calculated to cover approximately 300,000 applications over three quarters. However, actual demand proved to be much higher: by the end of the year, the initiative had been used more than 800,000 times. The total amount of payments made exceeded 1.2 billion hryvnia.

The ministry noted that additional funds were directed to the basic financing throughout the year. As a result, all available financial resources, including those returned from previous periods, were fully utilised.

Government prioritisation of expenditure

The decision to halt the October stage was made against the backdrop of general restrictions on the state budget's financial capacity. At the end of September, the Cabinet of Ministers introduced an expenditure prioritisation mechanism. Under this mechanism, in case of a shortage of funds, allocations are directed first to critical items: defence, servicing of the state debt, payment of pensions, salaries, and social assistance.

What changes for veterans

In October 2026, a new stage for submitting applications via the 'Diia' app will not open. Consequently, payments of 1,500 hryvnia within this stage will not be made.

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs emphasised that it is already working on transitioning the programme from an experimental format to a permanent basis. The ministry's goal is to ensure the continuous operation of the initiative from 2027.