Shmyhal: Over first six weeks of war, total damage to Ukraine’s economy exceeded $500B

“During the first six weeks of the war, the total damage to Ukraine’s economy exceeded $500bn. According to government estimates, this figure could increase in the long run to $1trn, or five times last year’s GDP. In 2022 alone GDP may drop by 30-50%,” Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal wrote in the op-ed for The Economist, the Government portal informs.

As noted, Ukraine’s economy had been expected to experience an upswing this year. In 2021 the country’s GDP amounted to $200bn, the highest in its history, in spite of Russia’s occupation of Crimea and parts of the east of the country. “Citizens’ incomes had also been growing. In short, Ukraine was changing and rapidly becoming a prosperous and democratic European country,” the PM noted.

However, in February, Vladimir Putin and his Russian army decided to wipe out those gains, along with so much else, Shmyhal noted. “Our country’s transformation and its leaning towards the West were wrecking the imperial ambitions of the Kremlin. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed, while millions have been forced to flee to western Ukraine or abroad,” the PM wrote.

On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops destroy infrastructure, massively shell residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages using artillery, MLRS, and ballistic missiles.

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