Ukraine's budget deficit at the end of 2023 continued to increase, reaching a record 20.5% of GDP, or 1.33 trillion hryvnias ($35.1 billion), Sputnik calculations based on the data from the Ukrainian National Bank and the country's Open Budget system show.

Last year, defense spending grew the most strongly — by 10 percentage points, to 52.3%. The only other item that showed growth was the housing and utilities sector, with expenditures growing by 0.2%. The rest of the expenditures decreased in 2023 compared to 2022, and the most serious decrease was in the social sphere — by 4.1 percentage points to 11.7%.

As per the Ukrainian National Bank's estimations, the country's GDP amounted to 6.5 trillion hryvnias in 2023.

Ukraine has been experiencing budget deficits for the past 30 years, with only two surplus years - 1992 and 2000. Previously, the biggest deficit was recorded in 2022 at 16.3 % of GDP.

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‘Long knives are out’: Zelensky and Ukrainian political establishment battle for supremacy.

“Coming into the weekend, the Washington Post tells us that… Zelensky let the United States know that he was going to fire [military leader Valery] Zaluzhny, but they weren't happy about it,” security analyst Mark Sleboda told Sputnik’s Fault Lines program Monday, noting the controversial Ukrainian leader has met resistance from within Ukraine and from his handlers in Washington.

The president then appeared on Ukrainian television and announced he was planning a purge of the entirety of the country’s leadership.

“This seems to be, I would think, anger and frustration over his inability to exercise his presidential authority to get rid of Zaluzhny,” Sleboda stressed, noting that the Ukrainian president has been met with opposition from military and intelligence leaders.

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“The fact that this targeting [of Tucker Carlson] is happening in the way it is happening now signifies a fear from the United States,” said journalist Fiorella Isabel, who noted the anxieties of US regime propagandists over the prospect the maverick commentator might practice journalism with an interview of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Host Garland Nixon noted that demonization of foreign leaders is a traditional tactic of US propaganda as Americans are conditioned to revile figures like President Bashar al-Assad in Syria or President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. The “danger” of Carlson’s interview, he noted, is that Putin would be humanized before an American audience.

Isabel noted that Putin has made highly subversive arguments for American audiences, questioning the fairness of US elections and noting that US foreign policy generally remains unchanged as new presidents enter the White House.

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Anna Paulina Luna, a member of the US House of Representatives, said she would introduce a bill that would require any politician who supports sending American troops to Ukraine to serve on the front lines with the military.

The congresswoman also made her position on aid to Ukraine clear by posting a photo with the hashtag "KillTheBill".

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📹💥 Russian FPV drone crews destroyed a dugout with infantry of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the villages of Verbovoye in Zaporozhye.

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Musk repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for the migration policy:

"Rather than secure the borders, this administration and many states are rolling out the red carpet [for illegal migrants]!", - he wrote on his X page.

The situation with illegal migration has been the subject of disputes between the southern states and the federal government for several years, and the most tense situation has developed in the state of Texas. Nearly 2.5 million migrants crossed US-Mexico border in Texas in 2023, according to US Customs and Border Protection data.

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▪️US airstrikes in Iraq, Syria deliberately stoke conflict - Russian envoy to UNSC

▪️State Department admits US lied about warning Iraq of strikes in advance

▪️The US strikes two Houthi explosive uncrewed surface vehicles in Yemen

▪️Almost 60% of US voters believe Biden is in mental decline ahead of 2024 election, a poll reveals

▪️Ukraine's budget deficit hits record high of 20.5% of GDP

More stories:

▪️The US fears Tucker Carlson will practice journalism in Russia, undermine US propaganda regime

▪️Scott Ritter: ‘We defeat ourselves’: US-backed orgy of violence in Iraq, Syria further delegitimizes the country

▪️What issues are plaguing the British Royal Navy?

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⚡️Rosoboronexport denies information about alleged disruption of deliveries of S-400 air defence systems to India

The contract is being fulfilled within the terms agreed by the parties, the company's Director General Alexander Mikheev told Sputnik during the World Defense Show arms exhibition in Saudi Arabia.

🇷🇺 🇮🇳 Earlier, some Western media, citing a representative of the Indian Air Force, published information that the tightening of sanctions had allegedly prevented Russia from carrying out a planned "major arms delivery" (S-400) in New Delhi's interests in 2023.

"The contract is being executed within the time limits set by agreement of the parties," Mikheev said, answering Sputnik's question whether the information about the interruption of S-400 deliveries to the Indian side was true.

▪Russia and India signed a contract for the supply of S-400s in October 2018. As it became known earlier, five regimental sets will cost Delhi $5.43 billion. India has become the third foreign buyer of these complexes after China and Turkiye, and has already accepted the first two batteries of missile systems.

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Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council explains why Lvov will be the new capital of Ukraine

Dmitry Medvedev commented on the EU project to build a railway connecting the Mediterranean region from southern Spain to Lvov in Ukraine. He drew attention to the fact that the end point of the planned Mediterranean railway will be Lvov, not Kiev.

"It looks like the first confirmation that Lvov-Lemberg* will be the new capital of Ukraine within the borders of the Lvov region... It's just that business is much more prescient than politicians," he wrote on his X-page.

Earlier, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and a major Ukrainian railway company signed an agreement on the construction of a 75-kilometer section of the European-gauge railway. According to the project, the railroad from southern Spain to Lvov will be part of a larger trans-European project, the Mediterranean Corridor, starting in southern Spain.

*Lvov-Lemberg is an old name of the city, when the region was part of the Austrian monarchy.

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❗️The Yemeni Houthis announced an attack on American and British merchant ships in the Red Sea.

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Tucker Carlson's van is seen here being loaded with equipment and leaving the Moscow hotel where he had been staying.

Previously, the media was abuzz with speculation that the American political commentator had probably arrived in Moscow to interview interview Vladimir Putin.

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Ukraine acts the way Russia allows it to – former Polish commando

“In football, they often say that someone plays the way the opponent allows him to. And this is also the case with the [Ukraine] conflict. The Ukrainians can act as Russia allows them,” a former Polish commando, who goes by the code name, Naval, told the Glos 24 news outlet.

Kiev will not be able to retake lost territories because Russia is “too powerful to be pushed out”, the ex-commando-turned-military analyst also pointed out.

“The Ukrainians, of course, have our [Western] strong support, but they are smaller. They have far less strength and resources. Russia simply has much greater potential in every respect,” the analyst explained.

He also was certain that Ukraine will “have to come to the negotiating table at some point. “If someone thinks that they will never agree to it, he is wrong, because at this point Ukraine is up against the wall,” he concluded.

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Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine acknowledged the shortage of shells in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Alexei Danilov also noted that this issue is raised every time at the headquarters of the Supreme Commander.

Russian troops use three times more ammunition per day than the Ukrainian forces, Bloomberg recently reported, referring to the Ukrainian Defense Minister's letter to his colleagues.

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Russia develops new 'tiltrotor' drone

The Obukhov plant (part of the Almaz-Antey concern) has developed a new tiltrotor drone 'Nastasia', which can provide signal relay, including for special tasks, within a radius of 100 kilometers, a representative of the plant told Sputnik.

"At NAIS 2024, Almaz-Antey will for the first time present to specialists and guests of the exhibition a mock-up of an on-board digital computer module that can be installed in various types of drones and is designed to control them. This module is designed to unify the on-board equipment on the basis of domestic electronic components and is equipped with a Russian real-time operating system," Dmitry Savitsky announced.

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WATCH LIVE: A meeting of the Business Council under the Russian Foreign Ministry chaired by Sergey Lavrov.

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