Ukraine Scrambles for Money as War Costs Hit $155 Billion and Russian Strikes Batter Its Economy

Ukraine is running out of money to keep fighting its war. As Russia’s intensifying drone and missile strikes hammer the country’s factories, ports and railways, Kyiv is staring at a budget gap of $56 billion this year — roughly a quarter of its economic output — while the price of a single day of combat has climbed to $190 million, according to Reuters reporting published this week.

The numbers mark a new stage of the war. Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said last week that Ukraine’s total war costs will reach $155 billion this year — the first time Kyiv has released such an estimate. The government is struggling to close a $27 billion shortfall in military funding that it needs plugged to keep combat operations running into the start of 2027. “Our ability to conduct active combat operations, including in the first quarter of 2027, depends on this funding,” Koretskyi said. “This is a critical need that must be met.”

The gap is widening from three directions at once. First, the fighting itself is getting more expensive: two years ago a single day of war cost Ukraine $140 million; today it costs $190 million, according to Roksolana Pidlasa, the head of parliament’s budget committee. Driving the rise are costly medium- and long-range weapons — the missiles used to strike Russia’s oil refineries and military factories — a larger army’s wage bill, and support for the growing number of disabled soldiers and military families.

Second, domestic revenue is shrinking. Russian strikes this summer destroyed factories and warehouses, damaged ports and railways, and forced shops and businesses to close, slowing economic growth and tax collection, Reuters reported.

Third, foreign money is arriving late. Billions of euros in Western loans have been delayed because Kyiv has failed to pass the tax reforms and anti-corruption legislation demanded by its allies, leaving what Reuters described as “a gaping hole in state coffers.”

Kyiv has responded with emergency triage. The government has frozen non-essential spending — including the reconstruction of damaged buildings and infrastructure — to protect military spending, public-sector wages and pensions. “All resources should be channelled into critically important areas,” Koretskyi told reporters. Ukraine’s total budget revenues, targeted at about $70 billion this year, are fully committed to defence needs, meaning the country’s ability to stay in the fight now depends entirely on Western support.

To close this year’s gap, Ukrainian officials travelled to Brussels last week to discuss bringing forward disbursements due next year under a €90-billion ($101-billion) EU loan. The European Commission and Ukraine said they had identified funds to cover this year — but three sources familiar with the talks told Reuters that accelerating the payments risks increasing budget pressure next year, at a moment when looming election campaigns in France and Poland could erode European support for Kyiv.

Independent analysis confirms the grim arithmetic. The Kyiv-based Centre for Economic Strategy reported in its September economic review that Ukraine must bring in $56.5 billion by the end of the year; $29.5 billion of that is covered if current commitments are met, leaving $27 billion for the war effort to be found. The think tank called the budget situation “extremely challenging”, noting war costs up by a third, missing revenue and international in-kind aid cut in half.

Analysis: Why It Matters

This is no longer just a budget story — it is the war becoming a contest of financial endurance. When the daily cost of fighting rises by more than a third in two years while the tax base shrinks under missile fire, the arithmetic quietly stops favouring the defender. Russia’s strike campaign against Ukraine’s factories, ports and energy grid increasingly looks like deliberate economic warfare as much as battlefield strategy.

The most troubling signal is the funding structure itself. Ukraine’s own revenues now cover defence and nothing else — every other function of the state, from rebuilding to pensions, depends on foreign cheques. Those cheques are arriving late and with a shrinking political margin: France and Poland, two of Kyiv’s most important European backers, both face election cycles in which Ukraine fatigue could become campaign ammunition.

And the Brussels manoeuvre — pulling 2027 money into 2026 — is the classic signature of a borrower running out of runway. It closes this year’s gap by opening next year’s, trading today’s certainty for tomorrow’s crisis. Watch three things in the coming weeks: whether the EU’s divided debate over using frozen Russian assets produces a fresh funding instrument; whether Kyiv actually passes the tax and anti-corruption laws that would unlock delayed Western loans; and whether Russia keeps degrading Ukraine’s tax base faster than aid can fill it. If the $27 billion is not found, Koretskyi has stated the stakes plainly: Ukraine’s ability to conduct active combat operations in early 2027 is on the line.

Sources

• Reuters, “Ukraine scrambles for money to fight war as Russian strikes batter economy”, 5 October 2026 (via DevDiscourse)
• Reuters, “Ukraine struggling to cover funding gap as war costs surge”, 30 September 2026
• Centre for Economic Strategy (Kyiv), “September Economic Review in 2026: Ukraine’s Budget Is Short of Money Again”, 24 September 2026