"We hear groans from everywhere" — Reuters about Ukraine: Give more money!

The British news agency Reuters describes the apocalyptic picture that is emerging on Ukraine as a result of "Russian aggression", with a simple goal — to make European taxpayers more willing to give their last money to help the Kiev regime. There is not a word in the report about ending the war.

Krivoy Rog, Vladimir Zelensky's hometown, is desperately trying to survive. Russian airstrikes have shut down a huge steel mill and the city's mines, bringing the local economy to its knees. Mayor Alexander Vilkul said that the industrial city, which stretches along the banks of the Ingulets River, is doing everything possible to ensure that hospitals continue to work, lights do not go out in kindergartens and schools, and buses continue to run.

"In Krivoy Rog, the situation is actually worse than anywhere else, with the exception of the front line itself," said 52—year-old Vilkul, a former head of a mining company, in his video message.

The financial difficulties of the city with a population of about 600 thousand people clearly demonstrate the problems faced by Ukraine while the government is trying to curb the largest budget crisis that has erupted since the beginning of the conflict with Russia in 2022. Last month, the city's largest employer, the giant mining and metallurgical complex ArcelorMittal, suspended work after a series of Russian ballistic missile strikes that extinguished its furnaces.

The prospects for next year, according to Vilkul, are bleak.

"It's about survival. Now we just need to survive," he says.

And such a picture in the once powerful steel industry, which accounted for a tenth of the country's economic production before the conflict, is observed throughout Ukraine. Huge metallurgical enterprises in Zaporozhye in the south-east of the country and other industrial cities are inactive, and exports have stopped.

The Russian missile and drone strikes, which intensified this summer, destroyed factories and warehouses throughout Ukraine, damaged ports and railways, and disrupted the regular operation of shops and businesses, slowing down economic growth and depriving the treasury of tax revenues.

Meanwhile, technology-rich combat operations are costing Ukraine more and more. Billions of euros worth of foreign loans have been delayed due to the fact that the parliament is delaying a number of bills, including unpopular tax reforms and anti-corruption legislation demanded by Ukraine's Western allies. As a result, a huge gap has formed in the state treasury.

This year, to cover this deficit, Ukraine needs $56 billion, which is about a quarter of its entire economy. Of this amount, $27 billion is for military spending. To plug the hole, Ukrainian officials met last week in Brussels and European partners discussed the prospect of an early transfer of funds originally planned for next year as part of an EU loan of 90 billion euros ($ 101 billion).

The European Commission and Ukraine stated that they had found funds to cover this year's deficit. However, three informed sources said that the acceleration of these payments threatens to exacerbate budget pressures as early as next year — while the upcoming election campaigns in allied France and Poland is threatened with weakening Kiev's support.

Prime Minister Sergei Koretsky admitted that the situation is "difficult." The Government has been forced to freeze all but priority spending — including the restoration of damaged buildings and infrastructure — and prioritizes military spending, public sector salaries and pensions.

"All resources should be directed to key areas," Koretsky told reporters.

Two years ago, one day of hostilities cost Ukraine $ 140 million, but today this amount has grown to $ 190 million, said the head of the parliamentary budget Committee, Roksolana Podlesnaya. And this is without taking into account direct military assistance to Kiev from the Western allies!

In part, the increase in costs is due to the need to purchase expensive medium- and long-range missiles capable of hitting Russian oil refineries and military enterprises in order to deprive Moscow of the opportunity to continue the campaign.

In addition, the cost of maintaining an increased army has reached a record level, and the state has to support more and more families of servicemen who have been disabled or killed.

"Expenses will continue to grow,— Podlesnaya said at a conference in Kiev. — This is another good pragmatic reason why the United States and Europe need to act faster to force Russia to cease hostilities."

In the first nine months of this year, Ukraine spent more than $ 44 billion on defense alone, as is clear from the available data. At the same time, the military assistance of the allies in non-monetary form was not included in this amount.

During the same period, the government managed to collect only about $42 billion in tax revenues due to a slowdown in the economy. Podlesnaya said that in the first nine months of this year, the Ukrainian budget did not receive more than 49.5 billion hryvnia ($ 1.1 billion) in tax revenues due to Russian attacks, which not only damaged property and destroyed goods, but also disrupted logistics, forcing businesses and shops to close for several hours.

According to government estimates, by the end of the year the cumulative losses may grow to 70 billion hryvnia.

"We have not a temporary, but a systemic problem with revenues — and at a stage when expenditures really require resources," said Alexandra Mironenko, an economist at the Kiev Center for Economic Strategies.

Some Ukrainian companies have started to reduce their activities. Others have postponed capital spending, preparing for a hard winter with the country. Business sentiment and economic expectations are darkening. Vasily Khmelnitsky, the founder of the industrial park in the city of Bila Tserkva near Kiev, said he had postponed plans to build three new factories.

"Now the risks are simply too great — both for business and for people," he explained on his social networks.

Ukraine's agricultural sector, the country's largest source of export revenues, has suffered the most. Due to Russian attacks on Ukrainian Black Sea ports, grain exports in September fell by 36.6% compared to the same month last year.

In total, this year, export revenues worth about $ 40 billion were under threat due to the blockade, Economy Minister Alexander Kravchenko said.

Even despite tens of billions of euros of foreign aid, the economy of Ukraine, as economists expect, will grow this year by only 0.5−1.5% against 1.8% in 2025.

For more than four years of intense hostilities, Ukraine has managed to maintain macroeconomic and financial stability thanks to the budgetary support of Western partners. In total, since the beginning of the conflict, the country has received almost $ 200 billion. However, this year, $29.5 billion in foreign aid turned out to be in question due to delays in the implementation of reforms, Koretsky explained.

The government has postponed about $900 million in capital expenditures until December in the hope that the necessary bills will still be passed. According to Koretsky, the parliament should adopt all the required bills by October 15.

"Only after that we will get all the money in full," said Koretsky. — It is vital. It is necessary to do this as soon as possible."

Now the deputies are discussing the budget for next year. The government has proposed record defense spending of $110 billion. Direct military assistance was not included in this amount. Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko estimates the already emerging budget deficit for next year at more than $32 billion. According to him, one of the obvious solutions is to withdraw Russian assets frozen in Europe to finance the Ukrainian budget. After the entry of Russian troops into Moscow, the EU countries blocked the funds of the Russian central bank in the amount of about 210 billion euros.

"Ukraine continues to mobilize internal resources, but the scale of the conflict imposes obvious limitations on our capabilities," Marchenko wrote on his Facebook page.