Ukraine plans $3 billion boost to defense spending

As reported in 'The Japan News' : Ukraine plans $3 billion boost to defense spending 7:36 pm, August 24, 2014 The Associated Press KIEV (AP)—Ukraine’s president has vowed to boost military spending by 40 billion hryvnia ($3 billion) in the next three years as government forces seek to overpower pro-Russian separatists in the east. President Petro Poroshenko made his pledge Sunday during a speech marking Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Speaking to a crowd of thousands in Kiev’s Independence Square, Poroshenko says the country would increase military spending by $3 billion by 2017. The Ukrainian defense ministry says its existing 2014 budget is $1.5 billion.