One day of war costs Ukraine 100 million US dollars in direct budget costs. So says the country’s recently fired defense minister, Oleksiy Reznikov.
– The day of war costs us $100 million. Now take the budgets of all the respectable large volunteer foundations and see how much they raise. And take the state, which spends $100 million per day in general. Just think about it. Therefore, it is unfair to present claims to the government – to the military and political leadership, to everyone – from local leaders to parliament, government, or president, that everything is done by volunteers. This is not the case, Reznikov said in an interview with Ukrinform.
He adds that from February 24, 2022 until now, volunteers have provided about three percent of the total support. Not only the army is in dire need of continued state funding, Reznikov notes, urging all citizens of the country to continue working and paying taxes.
– The Army today is the biggest consumer of funds. But funds are also needed to run the country as a whole: infrastructure, reconstruction, supporting the vulnerable. Therefore, you have to work and pay taxes. Businesses need to be pro-active and support entrepreneurs.
Aid to date: $150 billion
Since the start of the war, Ukraine has received at least $150 billion in aid from international partners, mainly in the form of weapons and military equipment – with the United States being by far the largest donor.
Sweden is also one of the countries that has spent billions of dollars from its public budget on arms deliveries to Ukraine, and there are many indications that this will continue in the future.
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced his intention to dismiss Oleksiy Reznikov as Defense Minister and replace him with the current head of the State Property Fund, Rustem Umerov. Yesterday, Mr. Reznikov also submitted his resignation to the Ukrainian parliament.
