DIU Chief: Russia spends nearly USD 1B per day on war in Ukraine

This was reported in an interview with Ukrinform by Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate.

“This is a very costly war in general. A day of this war costs a little below a billion for them, and that’s a huge amount of money,” he said.

When asked about the economic potential of the Russian Federation, the head of the military noted: “Issues have already emerged, but we shouldn’t deceive ourselves. Even official data confirms that 41 percent of their spending is on defense. These are abnormal figures, almost all social programs, healthcare, education were curtailed to keep this budget running. That is, the negative financial and economic impact on the Russian Federation is already tangible.”

At the same time, Budanov added that as long as Russia has oil, gas, metal, precious metals and stones, “they will balance.”

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Craig Kennedy, a fellow at the American Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and former banker, said in his Navigating Russia publication that Russia's total military spending far exceeds its budgetary capacity and could lead to the collapse of corporations and banks.

It is noted that Moscow is covertly financing about half of its military spending through significant debts, forcing banks to provide loans on non-market terms to companies that supply goods and services for the war effort.