Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi warned journalists this week that Ukraine faces a $27 billion defense funding gap this year, with Kyiv hoping to cover about $7 billion domestically and looking to partners for the rest. Some EU financing remains tied to reforms Kyiv must pass to unlock the money, while other allies have yet to fill the remaining gap.<\/p>\n
\u00abOf course, raising taxes is never ideal, but in wartime, we cannot afford the luxury of populism or pretend we can avoid asking anything of the public,\u00bb Oleksandra Myronenko, an economist with the Center for Economic Strategy think tank, told POLITICO. <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Next year looks even more fraught.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko told donors in Brussels this week that Ukraine would require $52.6 billion in aid in 2027, while about $32.6 billion remains unfunded.<\/p>\n
\u00abUkraine has no reserve funds to cover its entire spending. If we fail to get external financing, we\u2019re facing a strong cut of all non-priority expenditures \u2014 and could even extend to protected expenditures,\u00bb said Myronenko, the economist.<\/p>\n
\u00abIf we don\u2019t have the actual cash in our accounts, we won\u2019t have the means to pay military salaries, pensions, and so on. So, if there is no international aid, then everything will be very bad,\u00bb she added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n