The cost of one day of war for Ukraine has climbed from $140 million in 2024 to $190 million in 2026, according to Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the Ukrainian parliament's budget committee.
Pidlasa made the comparison while speaking at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) forum, an annual conference organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, according to a correspondent for LIGA.net.
She said the war was becoming more expensive, noting that when she spoke at the same forum in 2024, a single day of fighting cost $140 million, whereas this year the figure has risen to $190 million.
Why costs are rising
Pidlasa pointed to several reasons behind the increase, including inflation and the growing size of Ukraine's army. She also said more families now need state support after losing relatives in the war, and that Ukraine requires greater quantities of weapons, particularly long-range weapons.
She stressed that the war has become so costly that Ukraine can no longer fully cover its share of the expenses on its own, unlike in previous years.
Budget revenues falling short
Pidlasa also said that over the first eight months of the year, budget revenues came in $1.35 billion below expectations, with a quarter of that shortfall occurring in August alone.
She said the main reason for the gap is that Russia is deliberately targeting industries that generate budget revenue, including the grain corridor, sea ports and metallurgical plants, adding that these are not facilities that can be quickly restored.
Defense budget deficit
Ukraine's defense budget deficit has reached $27 billion. Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi has cited the rising cost of the war as one of the causes of that gap.
The Yalta European Strategy forum brings together political and business leaders to discuss Ukraine's future and is one of the country's best known international policy gatherings, held annually under the auspices of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.
Government response
On September 1, Koretskyi said the government had identified 70 billion hryvnias in budget savings, which will be redirected toward defense spending.
On September 10, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko confirmed that Ukraine had begun forcibly limiting state spending because of delays in international financial aid.
