More than two years have passed since the war between Ukraine and Russia started. However, there are no signs of this war ending at the moment. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Parliament has approved a law to increase taxes on the general public, companies and banks from this year. According to experts, Ukraine has taken this step to meet military and defense needs. On behalf of the Ukrainian government, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Telegram that the MPs supported this tax bill on Thursday.
The MP said that about 247 MPs voted in its favor. Earlier in July, Zelensky's government approved a 500 billion hryvnia ($12 billion) increase in military spending by amending the law on the 2024 budget. According to experts, despite increasing taxes, there may be difficulty in meeting the defense budget. The bill, approved last month, calls for the tax to increase by 58 billion hryvnia this year and by 137 billion hryvnia in 2025.
It is noteworthy that Russia started attacking Ukrainian cities on 24 February 2022. Russian troops advanced rapidly and within a few weeks had captured large areas of Ukraine and reached Kiev. However they faced strong Ukrainian resistance almost everywhere. By October 2022 the picture had changed dramatically and after failing to capture Kiev, Russia retreated completely from the north. The following month Ukrainian forces recaptured the southern city of Kherson. Fighting since then has been taking place mainly in the eastern part of Ukraine where Russian forces have been gradually consolidating their positions. At least 50,000 Russian soldiers have died since the war began. Lakhs of people in both the countries have been affected.
