The main aim of this rating was to obtain official confirmation of the results of the popular "MONEY FOR THE AFU" protests in redirecting city budget revenues from non-military to military spending, as well as information on the volume and changes in aid to the AFU during the full-scale invasion. We wanted to see how much the support of the AFU from city budgets increased after the popular "MONEY FOR THE AFU" protests, whose main demand was to direct 20% of local budget revenues to the Defence and Security Forces, not to paving stones, stadiums and flower beds.
Why did RESISTANCE make this rating? All 16 co-founders of NGO "RESISTANCE" were active leaders and participants of the popular "MONEY FOR THE AFU" protests in different Ukrainian cities in 2023-2024, and it was on the basis of these protests that our organisation was founded in 2024.
Why did we take 60 cities? These are all regional centres, key industrial cities, budget-forming communities, communities with large military spending and cities with active regional RESISTANCE branches.
Protests work: +UAH 9 billion or +46% for the AFU
The popular "MONEY FOR THE AFU" protests increased funding for the Defence and Security Forces of Ukraine by UAH 9 billion - and that is only in the 60 cities we analysed, although the protests took place in over 150 Ukrainian cities, and only during the most active phase of the protests in October-December 2023. We compared the figures with the period before the protests, and military spending increased by 46% compared to that period. The whole country should see this result and understand the real consequences of taking part in peaceful protests, to motivate even more people to come out and stand up for their rights.
To grasp the scale of this aid: the Come Back Alive foundation raised UAH 4.4 billion in donations in 2024. And the residents of Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Lviv, Kharkiv and other cities who came to their city councils every Saturday to push for more military spending, with just one hour of their time over three months, helped the army almost twice as much as the foundation raised in a whole year. Most importantly, these are not donations or an extra financial burden on business and citizens, but an effective use of taxes already paid. Because ensuring security in the country is the most important function of the state.
Shocking figures: growing city revenues and low support for the AFU
The average share of the revenues of Ukrainian cities during the full-scale invasion, that is in 2022-2025, allocated to support the Defence and Security Forces of Ukraine was only 5.97%. With budgets in the billions, this means city councils spend most of the money on other needs, and the army receives only "capillary" aid.
Moreover, comparing city budgets for 2023 and 2024 shows that with revenues growing by almost UAH 36 billion, only UAH 1.6 billion was added for the AFU. The same trend continues in 2024-2025: with budgets increasing by UAH 25 billion, aid to the army was only UAH 2.5 billion. In fact, even as city revenues grow, only about 10% of the additional resources go to the army. This shows that support for the Armed Forces at the level of local budgets is symbolic, detached from reality and the real needs of the front.
In addition, it should be borne in mind that not all the money allocated actually reaches the army - corruption and opaque schemes in city councils and the Defence and Security Forces unfortunately remain a serious obstacle to real support for the military.
Main conclusions of the rating:
• The popular "MONEY FOR THE AFU" protests produced a measurable result: in just three months of the most active phase of the protests, funding for the Defence and Security Forces grew by UAH 9 billion. Money for the army appears where people come out to protest.
• The average share of city revenues for 2022-2025 combined allocated to support the Defence and Security Forces was only 5.97%.
• None of the 60 cities studied met the main demand of the protests - to direct 20% of city budget revenues to support the Defence and Security Forces of Ukraine in 2022-2025.
• Even as most cities' revenues grew in 2022-2025, only 10% of the additional resources from increased tax revenues compared to the previous year went to the army in 2025, 4.7% in 2024 and 30% in 2023.
• On the most active days of the protests, over 50 thousand Ukrainians came out in 150 cities across Ukraine in a single day, which was not covered by any Ukrainian media outlet.
It is people who move the country and help the front
And how much more could have been redirected to the AFU if the protests had not stopped in early 2024 in most cities and people had kept coming out en masse for at least 1 hour every Saturday to their city councils with "MONEY FOR THE AFU" placards? We are sure these figures would be measured in hundreds of billions of hryvnias and thousands of saved lives of our soldiers and civilians.
But what internal and external enemies want most of all is for Ukrainians to lose faith in their own strength and think that nothing depends on them. Our "MONEY FOR THE AFU" rating is a telling example of the opposite: the only source of power in the country is the people, and only the people can change what does not suit them. And all this takes is FAITH in your own strength and your country, the DESIRE to change the system and the ACTIONS of united, caring citizens towards a common goal.
RESISTANCE believes, has the desire and acts. Join us.
Link to the rating table with calculations
Link to the official replies of city councils
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