Ukraine finance minister says $8.3B spent on war so far

Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko on Thursday said that the country has spent $8.3 billion in the fight against Russia since the start of the war, according to a report by Reuters.

Marchenko said that the billions in spending has gone into items ranging from weaponry purchase and repair to emergency support funds for those who have been displaced throughout Ukraine due to the invasion, notes Reuters. He said that these funds were initially planned to be used for domestic development.

The comments come as Ukraine in April received nearly $2 billion in foreign aid with about $719 million of that aid being in grants, reports Reuters. The country has received $5.4 billion in aid since February, with $801 million of that money being from grants.

“We urge our partners to provide part of the funds as grants to reduce [our] debt burden which is already growing due to martial law as well as the need for financing,” Marchenko said, according to Reuters, while assuring the nation’s commitment to servicing its debts.

“Our stance on this issue remains unchanged. We continue to service our debts and the amount of our expenses for this is not large in comparison with the needs for financing the budget,” Marchenko explained.

“Moreover, we don’t even currently have reliable medium-term forecasts that would allow us to model the debt trajectory in the future.”