Cost of one day of war increased by a third, budget no longer covers its own share of expenses

One day of full-scale war in 2026 costs the Ukrainian budget about $190 million excluding the cost of weapons that partners transfer to Ukraine as military aid. In 2024, daily budget expenditures on the war were about $140 million.

This was stated by People's Deputy Roksolana Pidlasa, commenting on Ukraine's defense needs after participating in Yalta European Strategy.

According to her, the cost of the war is growing due to the increase in the size of the army, the expansion of state support for the families of servicemen, and the need for more weapons. This especially concerns medium- and long-range strike weapons.

For the first eight months of 2026, Ukraine's expenditures on national security and defense amounted to almost $42 billion excluding military assistance received in kind. At the same time, during this period the state raised about $39 billion of its own resource - budget revenues and funds from the placement of government bonds.

Thus, according to Pidlasa, Ukraine can no longer fully cover from its own resources even that portion of defense expenditures which it previously financed independently. In addition, the Defense Forces report an additional need of approximately $27 billion by the end of 2026.

The situation is complicated by underperformance of budget revenues. Pidlasa noted that from January to August, domestic and import VAT receipts lagged behind the plan by $1.35 billion, with about a quarter of this amount falling on August alone. She links this, in particular, to Russian strikes on enterprises and industries that generate budget revenues.

For comparison, according to Pidlasa's estimate, Russia spent a record $123 billion on the war against Ukraine in the first half of 2026 alone and continues to increase the production of missiles and drones.

Pidlasa emphasized that the current $190 million per day is not the limit: defense expenditures will continue to grow, which increases Ukraine's need for additional financial and military support from the US and Europe.

Based on materials: Roksolana Pidlasa