Finance Minister: Ukraine spends $5-7 mln daily on Donbas war

13:46, 23.01.2015 1 min read

Ukraine spends a lot on the army operation in the east and these expenditures have a significant effect on its financial status, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said.

"We are daily spending $5-7 million on this war," she told reporters at the Ukrainian Breakfast arranged by the Pinchuk Foundation at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The Ukrainian finance minister also mentioned sizable expenditures linked to the growing numbers of internally displaced persons, which had exceeded 650,000, and free supply of gas, electric power and heating to the uncontrolled lands in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions which had led to $1 billion losses in the ongoing winter season.

"All Ukraine wants is peace" and the soonest fulfillment of the Minsk agreements, Jaresko said, adding that time when peace might be achieved was still unclear.

The minister said that war expenditures were fully covered by this year's budget and they were the biggest in the entire history of the country.