The Ukrainian government will spend US$735 million on defense in next three months, an extraordinary meeting on Sunday decided.
The state’s decision comes as Ukraine’s Crimea region holds a referendum on whether the Russian-majority republic will leave the country and join the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, Russian armed forces maintain their presence on the Crimean peninsula.
The US$735 million will be spent in the next three months on border protection, internal forces and the Defense Ministry, interim Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.
The extra spending will be funded by restricting some social programs, which will be reinstated once the current situation has passed and the economy has been redeveloped, he added.
Polling stations opened on Sunday morning in Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea; Crimean Tatars have announced that they would boycott the referendum, which has been condemned as "illegal" by Ukraine and the West.
Russia earlier announced that it would back the referendum's result, despite Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, calling on Crimean people to boycott the vote. Turchynov said the vote was a violation of Ukraine's and Crimea's constitution.
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