KHARKIV, UKRAINE, Feb 28 — Kharkiv City Council has increased defense and city infrastructure spending by almost 123 million hryvnias [$3.2 million].

Deputies of the Kharkiv City Council adopted amendments to the city budget for 2024 at a special session on February 28, reported the press service of the Kharkiv City Council.

According to the decision, the deputies increased spending on civil defense, territorial defense, and assistance to the military by 47.5 million hryvnias [$1.2 million]. Deputies allocated another 32.9 million hryvnias [$862,4 thousand] for the uninterrupted functioning of heat and water supply systems.

The City Council will also allocate an additional 28.9 million hryvnias [$757,5 thousand] to repair tramways, overhead lines, and roads. Another 13.8 million hryvnias [$361,7 thousand] the City Council will spend on the housing recovery program.

The City Council reported that the expenditures were increased at the expense of free balances and reallocation of funds in the budget.

As reported, at a special session of the Kharkiv City Council on January 26, the deputies decided to amend the budget of the city’s territorial community for 2024. The City Council allocated 25.2 million hryvnias [$660,5 thousand] to finance military units. According to the approved project, the city’s budget is 17 billion hryvnias [$445,6 thousand].

As reported, in 2023, Ihor Terekhov said that the City Council allocated 825 million hryvnias from the city budget for defense and security. Of this amount, 474 million hryvnias [$12 million] were allocated last year. According to Ihor Terekhov, all the brigades that applied to Kharkiv received support. At the same time, Forbes did not find any funds for territorial defense in the Kharkiv budget, although almost 1 billion hryvnias [$26 million] were allocated for the city’s improvement. Later, Terekhov said the city finances the Armed Forces through other budget items.

Earlier, Gwara Media journalists asked the mayor’s press service to comment on the attitude of the city authorities to the “Money for the Armed Forces ” protests and the lack of response to the activists’ appeals [ Ukrainians demanded the allocation of funds from local budgets to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine instead of spending on regional improvements — ed.] but did not receive an answer.

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