August 16, 2022

Ukraine wants another 16 billion from the West

By the end of this year, Ukraine plans to receive another 12-16 billion dollars from Western partners. This was announced by the country's Finance Minister Sergey Marchenko in an interview with RBC-Ukraine .

"Everything depends on the success of the negotiations, the financial support can be up to 30 billion dollars. "We have already received 14 billion dollars, and there is a possibility that we will receive another 12-16 billion dollars by the end of the year," the minister said.

Sergei Marchenko said that the new stage of the Russian invasion, which began on February 24, completely changed the lives of Ukrainians and the priorities of the Government.

"Officials began to spend several times more money on the army, while budget revenues were reduced catastrophically," says Marchenko.

According to the Minister, in September, the Government is waiting for the receipts from the macro-financial support program from the European Union. In total, according to the program, Kyiv should receive 8 billion euros — the money will be transferred in several tranches. He expressed hope that macro-financial assistance will be fully accepted by Ukraine.

Marchenko also added that the level of consumption in the country remains quite high.

"Despite the fact that many people have left, the level of consumption is still high. The level of consumption drives the economy and economic processes. "Yes, we lost 5 to 9 million potential consumers, but this did not stop economic processes," he says.

He also pointed out that the rate of inflation in Ukraine is much higher compared to the pre-war period.

"Compared to other countries - Europe, the USA, where the inflation rate is approaching 10%, our inflation rate of 22.2% is not so scary. That is, it is natural that this inflation indicator is recorded in a country where the war is going on," says Marchenko.

We remind you that on August 8 of this year, the US Government announced that it will allocate 4.5 billion dollars to Ukraine to support its budget. Funds are allocated by the Agency for International Development, which operates within the State Department.

Russia-Ukraine war

On February 21 of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in the Kremlin recognizing the self-proclaimed independent Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine . Later, the Russian Federation declared that it recognized the republics on the borders of the regions of the same name, increasing the risk of war against Ukraine.

Following Putin's emergency decision, the US , EU, Canada, Australia, Great Britain and Japan officials also introduced sanctions against Russia .

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Russian military had launched a "special military operation" in eastern Ukraine's Donbass, and Russian troops launched an offensive against Ukraine. Putin justified this action by the fact that the leaders of the pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine sent such a request .

Earlier, Zelensky addressed the citizens of Russia in Russian and said that Ukrainians "do not need cold, hot, or hybrid war" and that Ukrainians are ready to meet the attackers. Soon after, the President severed diplomatic ties with Russia. President Zelensky declared martial law in the country .

On February 25, Zelensky announced a general military mobilization in Ukraine. It was decided that the call to the army will be carried out in a number of regions and cities of the country.

Russian troops have been attacking Ukraine from the north, east and south until now and have succeeded in occupying a number of territories. But this war led to the isolation of Russia in the world.

The start of the attack on Ukraine dealt a heavy blow to the Russian economy. Shares of Russian companies fell sharply, trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange was at an unprecedented level. Gazprom, LUKOIL and other large companies suffered losses.

After the attack, the European countries and the USA introduced several stages of sanctions against Russia. Russian banks VTB, Bank of Russia, Otkritiya, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovkombank and VEB.RF have been disconnected from the SWIFT international interbank system. The USA and the European Union have blocked Russia's gold-currency reserves .

European countries, USA, Canada closed their airspace for Russia . Switzerland, which is considered a neutral country, joined these sanctions. Against the background of the war, the process of Ukraine's accession to the European Union accelerated .

European countries have already started to replace the supply of Russian oil. For example, at the end of May, the United Arab Emirates resumed oil supplies to Europe after a two-year break.