Two years of war have impoverished many Ukrainians

Origin: The Economist.

For 2024 Ukraine needs $37.3bn of external financing and there is likely to be a shortfall. That will mean cuts in social spending, and perhaps an increase in energy prices, which have not kept pace with inflation. Hlib Vyshlinsky, who heads the Centre for Economic Strategy, says he thinks that 2024 will be just about “manageable”. What worries him is how to keep going in the years to come if the war continues “and we do not have foreign support.” Grinding Ukrainians down on the front and impoverishing them behind it, so that they lose the will to fight on, is clearly part of Vladmir Putin’s plan.