Kyiv under fire.
The occupiers are destroying the station.
The country is terribly lacking in air defense.
And at the same time:
- populist distribution of “thousand” — 35.4 billion;
- 3,000 free kilometers with Ukrzaliznytsia (which is currently barely surviving) — 16 billion;
- screening — 10 billion;
- cashback with investment nannies — 9.4 billion;
- investment project — 8.3 billion;
- “Thousand Spring” — 5.4 billion;
- bribes to majoritarians for voting — 2 billion;
- propaganda television marathon — 1.6 billion;
- payments to judges of all levels — 10 billion, which go to salaries;
- payments for the Ministry of Digital Transformation — 4 billion in the form of funds for e-government and the Innovation Fund;
- payments for the Ministry of Justice — 2 billion, including for the construction of detention centers;
- expenses for the State Bureau of Investigation — 0.691 billion;
- expenses for the Office of the Prosecutor General — 0.827 billion;
- expenses for the Verkhovna Rada — 0.8 billion;
- for state affairs management — 0.251 billion, including for the Office of the President;
- for the Cabinet Secretariat — 0.171 billion.
All this money could have gone to defense. But it went…
Today about “Vova’s thousand”: how much have the one-time payments already cost the budget and will we see them in 2027?
The story began even before the full-scale war.
* On December 19, 2021, the “eSupport” program was launched — 1,000 UAH for adult Ukrainians who received a full course of vaccination against COVID-19. The “COVID thousand” was then received by 8 million Ukrainians, and 8 billion UAH was spent from the budget.
* Later, at the end of 2024, the thousand returned under the name “Winter Support.” According to the Government, 14.4 million Ukrainians used it. This is approximately 14.4 billion UAH in payments.
* At the end of 2025, the next “Winter Support” was launched. This time 1,000 UAH was received by 17.8 million Ukrainians. The Government reported that all payments were made. So we are talking about 17.8 billion UAH. And here the interesting part is not only the amount but also the sources of funds.
Financing of payments was carried out by reallocating funds from the state budget (Cabinet Resolution No. 1443 of November 13, 2025). In particular, for “Winter Support,” funding was reallocated from other programs of the Ministry of Social Policy:
– from the program “Social Protection of Children and Families”;
– from the program “Support for Low-Income Families.”
The funds were directed to the program “Social Protection of Citizens in Difficult Circumstances.” Note, this is not a separate budget line under the name “thousand.” This is a decision to use the resources of already existing social programs.
* In April 2026, another one-time payment appeared — 1,500 UAH for pensioners and certain categories of social assistance recipients. According to the Government, the supplement was received by 9.7 million pensioners. This is 14.55 billion UAH. About 2 million social assistance recipients — approximately 3 billion UAH. Payments were made within the existing programs of the Ministry of Social Policy and through the Pension Fund.
So in total, according to the given chronology, approximately 57.75 billion UAH in ONE-TIME PAYMENTS. Of these, in 2026 — 35.35 billion UAH.
AND THIS IS NOT A SEPARATE LINE IN THE BUDGET OR BUDGET REPORTING. I have demonstrated the scale to you.
And now we open the State Budget Project-2027.
According to our analysis, the Ministry of Social Policy has five budget programs with a total resource of 154.4 billion UAH, which by their purpose POTENTIALLY CAN BE USED for similar decisions.
For comparison: in 2026, two programs that made the corresponding social payments had a total resource of 155.4 billion UAH.
Of course, the presence of funds in these programs does not mean that a new “thousand” has already been planned. No, these programs have existing social obligations, and the increase in the transfer to the Pension Fund should ensure, among other things, the pension payments provided by law. I am writing to explain to myself and you that if in budget-2027 we do not see the introduction of one-time assistance, it does not mean that the Government will not create it by making a decision to reallocate funds within the current assignments.
And finally. What is better for people: another one-time payment or a predictable, systematic increase in social support for those who need it most?
I think I have provided enough figures “to think about.”
