Ukraine will need at least 120 billion dollars for defense in 2026, when the war with Russia will enter its fifth year, Ukrainian Defense Minister Denis Shmihal said on Saturday.
Shmihal said funding is crucial to secure the line of defense, produce more drones and other weapons, protect the skies and repel further Russian aggression. "The war economy shows that if we spend less money than Russia, then we start playing with our territory, and most importantly, our lives," Shmihal said at an annual conference in Kiev.
Ukraine's defense spending has soared since the Russian invasion in February 2022, and the country now spends more than 31 percent of its GDP on the military. This year's state budget calls for at least $63 billion in defense spending, with weapons from Western allies.
Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the parliamentary budget committee, said the costs of the war continue to rise.
She said that in 2025, a day of war cost $172 million, compared to $140 million in 2024. That includes soldiers' salaries, weapons and payments to those wounded or killed on the battlefield, she said. "So we need to raise all the necessary funds, all the necessary money."
While no details were provided on further sources of revenue, Ukrainian government officials have reached out to allies to find ways to help Kiev with frozen Russian funds.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war have so far failed. This week, tensions reached a new level as NATO fighter jets attempted to shoot down a number of Russian drones that entered Polish airspace on Wednesday. "Until a diplomatic solution is found, we must continue to fight. And to continue to fight, we need money. Any defense has a huge financial cost," Pidlasa said.
Photo: EPA/ANDRII NESTERENKO
