Each Hour Of Business Operations Halted Due To Air Raid Alerts Costs Ukraine $45M Economy Ministry

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Ukrinform reports this, citing Economy and Environmental Protection Minister Oleksandr Kravchenko in an interview with The Guardian.

Russian attacks on industrial facilities, warehouses, logistics centers and data centers are an attempt to“destroy virtually the entire economy”, Kravchenko said.

“What we did not fully anticipate was how quickly Russia would develop these jet-powered drones and begin using them to attack virtually everything,” he noted.

The attacks are forcing a significant part of the Ukrainian economy to suspend operations regularly: during air raid alerts, workers move to shelters, while the alerts can last up to 10 hours a day. To reduce economic losses, the government recently introduced a two-tier alert system designed to allow businesses to continue operating during prolonged alerts.

More than half of businesses continued operating during the“yellow” allert, according to the minister.

Russian attacks are estimated to have caused $10 billion in losses to the Ukrainian economy this year alone. Targets have included steelmaking plants, warehouses, logistics infrastructure and, more recently, data centers. In addition, Russia has effectively blocked Ukraine's Black Sea ports, through which most of the country's exports pass, Kravchenko added.

Kyiv is also currently seeking additional support from the EU, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom, including early disbursement of part of the loans scheduled for next year.

“There is very active work underway with all our international partners to attract additional sources of funding,” the official said.

Kravchenko rejected suggestions that the budget deficit was linked to inefficient management or corruption. He also said it was not the result of excessive spending under former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. Instead, the deficit is driven by both lower-than-expected government revenues and rising wartime expenditures.

“The cost of the war is simply increasing,” Kravchenko said, stressing the need to expand Ukraine's air defense capabilities and accelerate the development of Ukrainian drones capable of intercepting Russia's new jet-powered weapons.

Read also: Ukraine's reconstruction needs rise 12.2% over year - Economy Ministry

As previously reported by Ukrinform, President Volodymyr Zelensky recently announced that Brussels would deliver“good financial news” in the coming days.

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