Ukraine will increase its budget spending for military modernization next year by 64 percent to about 445 million U.S. dollars, local media reported Wednesday, citing the data from the Defence Ministry.

"The funds will go for the development of weapons and military equipment," Dmytro Gutsulyak, a spokesman for the Defence Ministry, was quoted as saying.

Besides, Ukraine will allocate some 112 million dollars from the 2017 budget for enhancing combat capabilities of military troops, he added.

Last month, the Ukrainian government has submitted to parliament a draft budget for 2017, which envisages that the country's overall defence spending next year will amount to 2.5 billion dollars, or 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product.

According to the Defence Ministry, this year the country's defence budget is expected to reach about 2.01 billion dollars.

Kiev has launched a major modernization of the army in 2014, when the conflict between government troops and pro-independence insurgents started in the eastern Ukraine. Endit

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