Ukraine already spends $8.3B on war with Russia – finance minister

Ukraine has been forced to spend UAH 245.1 billion ($8.3 billion) on its war with Russia instead of development.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko told this to Reuters in exclusive written comments, according to Ukrinform.

The figure, which has not been disclosed by Ukraine's government before, lays bare the economic maelstrom that Ukraine is navigating, the report said. According to the minister, the spending -- drawn from some funds initially budgeted for development -- went on everything from buying and repairing weapons to emergency support for internally displaced people.

Marchenko also noted that the government only collected 60% of its planned tax revenue for April, a shortfall that was topped up to the equivalent of 79.5% by grants from foreign partners. He said that Kyiv urgently needed foreign support to be ramped up as it is being forced to funnel billions of additional dollars into emergency spending.

Marchenko said that Ukraine had received almost $2 billion in external funding in April, of which $719 million had come from grants. The figure for the period since February stands at $5.4 billion, including $801 million in grants, he said.

"If we do not take into account foreign aid, we now estimate the receipt of revenues in May-June at the level of 45-50% of (what was) planned, provided that the situation does not worsen," Marchenko said.