Pumping Iron: CyberBerkut Leaks Kiev's Plan to Boost Military Spending

Hacker group CyberBerkut leaked documents of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry revealing Kiev's plans to boost the military budget two and a half times during the next three years.

The document envisages increasing expenditures from 60 billion hryvnia (nearly $3 billion) in 2015 to 150 billion (over $7 billion) in 2018. Thus, the military budget will grow 2,5 times.

The share of the proposed defense budget in the country's GDP will mount, constituting 3,36 percent in 2015, 6,22 percent in 2016, 6,08 percent in 2017 and 5,67 percent in 2018. In comparison, NATO countries decided to limit their military spending at around two percent of GDP, CyberBerkut notes.

The strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has surpassed 250,000, increasing from 184,000 in early March, according to the deputy defense minister. He said earlier in June that Ukraine lacked funds to provide food and clothes for the growing army. 

The increasing expenditures will scarcely have any positive effect on servicemen's salaries, housing, healthcare and other social needs, the hacker group said citing the document. The lion's share of the budget will be spent on fortification structures, mobilizations and reserve training.

The growing military costs will be too great strain on Ukraine's staggering economy and will hamper its restoration, hackers concluded.

CyberBerkut is a group of hackers opposed to the current government in Kiev. Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the group has conducted a series of high-profile hacks. It has previously reported on the details of US plans to send arms to Ukraine, released information revealing the high casualty figures among the Ukrainian Army, information about snipers on Maidan Square, and Victoria Nuland's famous "F**k the EU!" exchange with US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt.