Russian Strikes Deepen Ukraine’s Foreign-Aid Needs, Report Says

The site of a Russian strike on an apartment building in Kyiv in October.

By Volodymyr Verbianyi November 02, 2026 at 07:48 AM GMT+8

Ukraine is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign aid as Russian air attacks further devastate its economy, according to a Bloomberg Economics report.

“Although imminent economic collapse is unlikely, sustaining the war through 2027 will increasingly depend on timely, reliable and adequate flows of Western financing,” Bloomberg CEE and Russia Economist Ekaterina Vlasova and Geoeconomics Analyst Alex Kokcharov say in the Ukraine Economy Insight report published Monday.

UKRAINE INSIGHT: Economy Endures, But External Support Is Vital

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces have shifted their focus to targeting business infrastructure in Ukraine alongside power and civilian transport networks with relentless drone and missile barrages. The tactic is expected to push Ukraine’s economy into decline this year.

The Ukrainian central bank last week sharply revised down its 2026 forecast for the country’s gross domestic product, now seeing a contraction of 0.4% compared to its previous projection of 1.8% growth.

That would be the first wartime economic downturn since 2022, when Ukraine’s GDP shrank by more than 30% following Russia’s full-scale invasion.

While the country remains remarkably resilient in the fifth year of the war, the intensifying Russian attacks on energy, industrial and export infrastructure are making Ukraine more reliant on foreign support, according to the report.

That’s a worry for Ukraine’s government, as war fatigue and political changes in European Union nations make the task of maintaining aid increasingly difficult.

The European Union, the country’s largest donor, has earmarked more than $100 billion to fund Ukraine’s war effort over 2026 and 2027. That’s likely to be insufficient, according to Kyiv’s estimates, as the war continues to drive up costs.

Ukraine needs 70 billion euros ($78 billion) to finance its defense next year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month.

“Political uncertainty in key European states — including presidential elections in France and parliamentary elections in Italy and Poland — could complicate future support,” according to Bloomberg’s economists.