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Ukraine’s economy and environment minister, Oleksandr Kravchenko, said Russia was increasingly targeting infrastructure that forms the backbone of the country’s economy.
Operative Information Center-OMM reported that Kravchenko made the remarks.
He said attacks on industrial facilities, warehouses, logistics centers and data centers could be viewed as an attempt to disable a significant part of Ukraine’s economy.
Kravchenko said air raid alerts in Kyiv, lasting up to 10 hours a day, force workers to move to shelters. During that time, businesses suspend operations, repeatedly bringing a large part of the economy to a standstill.
According to the minister’s estimate, each air raid alert costs Ukraine’s economy about $45 million.
To reduce economic losses, the government has introduced a two-stage warning system during prolonged air raid alerts. A red alert warns of a missile threat and requires people to go to shelters. During a yellow alert linked to unmanned aerial vehicles, some businesses are allowed to continue operating.
Kravchenko said more than half of businesses continued working during yellow alerts. However, he said the warning did not provide a complete guarantee of safety. According to him, on Monday, a Russian-made jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle struck the National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv during a yellow alert, killing two people.
The Ukrainian official said Russian attacks had damaged the country’s fixed assets by about $10 billion this year alone. The targets included steel plants, warehouses, logistics infrastructure and data centers.
Russia has also effectively blockaded Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, which previously handled much of the country’s exports.
Kravchenko said energy resources, infrastructure and businesses had been weakened by months of attacks. He said he believed the government was better prepared for the coming winter than in previous years.
The minister said officials were discussing allowing more private companies to purchase Ukraine’s air defense systems to protect themselves against future attacks. At the same time, he stressed that businesses could not fully protect themselves from Russian missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The continuing damage caused by the attacks has also increased pressure on public finances. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously put the remaining budget deficit for this year at about $27 billion.
Kravchenko said the government had reduced the deficit to $20 billion by cutting spending and identifying additional domestic reserves.
He said Kyiv was currently seeking additional support from the European Union, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom. The possibility of receiving loans planned for next year ahead of schedule is also being considered.
The minister rejected claims that the budget deficit was caused by poor governance or corruption. He said it was linked to lower-than-expected state revenues and the growing financial burden of the war.
According to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, corruption in government was the most frequently cited concern among Ukrainians, at 50 percent. Mass missile and unmanned aerial vehicle attacks ranked second, at 40 percent. Seventy-two percent of respondents believed that people around Zelenskyy personally bore responsibility for corruption.
Kravchenko said progress had been made in fighting corruption, but acknowledged that Ukraine was addressing both the problem itself and perceptions that had emerged inside and outside the country.
According to him, Ukraine’s external financing needs for 2027 amount to $52.6 billion. Only about $20 billion of that sum has been secured so far. Additional tax increases and spending cuts are being discussed.
Speaking about the growing strength of political parties in France and Germany that question support for Ukraine, Kravchenko said war fatigue was increasing in Europe.
