Since the outbreak of the full-scale Russian aggression, Ukraine has spent 245.1 billion UAH ($8.3 billion) from the state budget on military needs.
Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said this in a commentary to Reuters. According to the official, the money pledged for other state development programs is now being spent on everything related to the war: from purchasing weapons to social support for internally displaced persons.
In particular, according to the Ministry of Social Policy, 2.7 million internally displaced persons are officially registered, although the real figure is many times higher, he noted.
Previously, the figure for the total cost of the war was not announced, however, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that the loss of the state budget of Ukraine over the war with Russia amounted to about 2 billion UAH per day.
At the same time, Marchenko noted a sharp drop in tax revenue, which is also related to Russia’s invasion. In April, the government collected only 60% of the planned taxes, however, this shortfall was covered by grants from the foreign partners by 79.5%.
"If we do not take into account foreign aid, then we estimate the receipt of income in May — June at the level of 45-50% of the planned one, provided that the situation does not worsen," Marchenko said.
With the government facing billions of dollars in emergency spending, Marchenko said Kyiv urgently needed foreign financial support.
In April, according to the Ministry of Finance, Ukraine got about $2 billion in financial assistance from partners, of which $719 million were grants. Overall, international support since February has now reached $5.4 billion.
According to Marchenko, today various types of external financial support are being discussed with partners — both borrowing from the IMF and loans, SDRs, and grants from Western countries.
The official also added that in May Ukraine expects a loan from Canada in the amount of about 1 billion Canadian dollars (about $767 million).
The Minister noted that Ukraine plans to service its foreign debt regardless of the war. But he called on partner countries to provide part of the funds in the form of grants to reduce the state's debt burden, which is increasing over the Russian aggression.
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