Ukraine has assessed that it will need at least $120 billion for defence in 2026, with a comparable sum required even if Russia’s war ends.

Announcing the figure on Saturday at a conference in Kyiv, Ukraine’s Defence Minister Denys Shmygal said the country faced the risk of further territorial losses if it continued to be outspent on the battlefield.

Ukraine currently allocates around a third of its economic output to defence and depends on tens of billions of dollars in financial support from Western partners to sustain its economy.

Shmygal proposed covering future defence costs by confiscating Russian assets frozen in Western jurisdictions, arguing that Ukrainians are already carrying a heavy tax burden after three-and-a-half years of war.

Moscow has warned that any seizure of its assets would constitute theft and would bring consequences. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that frozen Russian assets could be used to support a loan for reparations for Ukraine, while stressing that the 27-member bloc would not seize the assets themselves.

Source: Euractiv.