The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has made an operational decision to allocate 50.1 billion hryvnias from the state budget reserve fund to ensure timely payments to military personnel in October 2026. Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi confirmed that these funds were redistributed from within the already approved resources for the security and defense sector, avoiding the need for additional external borrowing or national currency issuance.
New 2026 Payment System
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reminds that since June 1, 2026, an updated salary model has been in effect, implemented as part of a two-year experimental project. Under this system, the monthly remuneration amount is directly correlated with the nature of the tasks performed, the level of risk, and the soldier's location. The basic income structure remains unchanged: official salary, rank-based salary, and seniority bonuses.
Details of Combat Rewards
The bonus system includes a wide range of performance-oriented surcharges. Direct participation in combat operations is entitled to up to 100,000 hryvnias per month. Additionally, differentiated payments have been introduced depending on the distance to the contact line: 170,000 hryvnias for platoon strongholds and 70,000 hryvnias for company strongholds. For successful assault operations, soldiers can receive up to 40,000 hryvnias per day, and for capturing an enemy, 100,000 hryvnias per group.
Contradictory Data
In the public sphere, questions arise regarding the upper limit of payments. According to official MoD data, the total monthly combat reward is capped at 460,000 hryvnias. At the same time, some expert sources point to the complexity of operational distribution during high-intensity combat, which sometimes leads to administrative delays at the local level when processing payment orders.
Financial Sector Stability
The government emphasizes that current redistribution is planned and aimed exclusively at maintaining the social protection of Ukraine's defenders. Despite the critical budget burden in October, all social obligations to military personnel and their families remain a priority for the state, confirmed by the presence of reserve budget articles for the defense sector.
