As the saying goes, a cannon fires a thousand taels of gold. When the war between Russia and Ukraine began, the West unfoundedly exaggerated the average daily expenses of the Russian army, believing that the Russian army spent 20 billion US dollars a day. Even if the Russian army saves money, it will cost at least 1.5 billion to 2 billion US dollars a day. According to this calculation, more than seven months have passed in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The Russian army has long spent all the annual military budget, but the military operations have not stopped. It can be seen from this that the West's assessment of the Russian military's daily expenses lacks factual basis and can only be regarded as part of the anti-Russian public opinion war.
In May this year, the German media calculated the daily expenses of the Russian army. German media believe that before the "special military operation", Putin planned to seize the Ukrainian capital Kiev within three days. Therefore, the budget for the "Special Military Operation" is $333.6 million per day. Among them, shells were US$156.75 million, grenade launcher ammunition was US$31.35 million, additional ammunition was US$10 million, missile .12 billion, fuel was US$15.5 million, and a total budget of US$1 billion in three days. According to data released by the Russian side, Russia's defense expenditure in the first four months of this year was about US$27.4 billion, almost half of the 2022 military budget. Based on this calculation, from January to April, the Russian army spent US$6.85 billion per month. Data from the Russian Ministry of Finance showed that in April, Russia's military expenditure reached US$10.1 billion. Based on this calculation, in April, the Russian army spent about US$337 million per day.
According to statistics from the International Energy Agency, since the beginning of the year, Russian oil exports have increased by 50%, with monthly sales reaching US$20 billion. According to this calculation, Russia's daily oil export revenue is about US$670 million, and even if the Russian army spent an average of US$337 million on the Ukrainian battlefield, there is still a surplus. Therefore, from an economic perspective, Russia has the financial resources to fight a protracted war with Ukraine. You should know that Russia is also a major arms exporter. Russia has more than 1,300 military-industrial enterprises, , and most of the Russian military's active weapons and equipment are produced by its own military-industrial enterprises. It is no exaggeration to say that Russian military factories can produce all kinds of weapons and equipment from bullets to missiles, and there is no need to import them from abroad. In addition, Russia has been firmly ranked as the second largest arms exporter in the world for 20 consecutive years, and its annual arms export volume remains above US$10 billion. Therefore, Putin has enough confidence to fight a war of attrition with Ukraine.
In contrast, after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, famous military-industry enterprises such as the Ukrainian Antonov Design Bureau, Kharkov Machinery Manufacturing Factory, Motor Sichi Company , may be destroyed or severely damaged by the Russian army. The Soviet/Russian main combat weapons and equipment in the hands of the Ukrainian army have been exhausted and can only wait for Western military aid. The Ukrainian financial department once revealed that Ukraine's average monthly fiscal expenditure is about US$6.79 billion, of which the military budget is about US$5.1 billion. As early as May this year, Ukrainian President Zelensky said that Ukraine's monthly budget deficit is US$5 billion, and it urgently needs financial assistance from Western countries, but Ukraine is still insisting on fighting. According to this calculation, Ukraine has owed at least US$25 billion in foreign debt. If the war is delayed for a long time, Ukraine's debt will accumulate more and more. In the end, Ukraine's generations will not be able to repay the war debt. To put it bluntly, Ukraine needs several generations of efforts to restore its pre-war economic level.
At present, Ukraine has no money and has to continue fighting, and even owes huge extra debts, but when it is extremely poor, it becomes a rogue. Recently, Ukrainian officials said that Ukraine is striving to establish an "international mechanism" through United Nations , asking Russia for more than 300 billion US dollars as compensation for the losses caused to "special military operations". However, Russia has not yet made any response. In fact, Ukraine is very clear that Russia cannot afford Ukraine $300 billion. The Zelensky government just wants to dress itself up as a victim and win the sympathy of the international community. Although Kiev can also gain sympathy from the international community, it is limited to sympathy. After all, it is impossible for Ukraine to insist on joining NATO , firmly pursue anti-Russia policies, and the pro-Russian people in the Donbass area, Russia would not have been able to provoke a criminal, so that the situation has developed to such an uncontrollable level today.
In fact, the Zelensky government seems to have another idea, that if they cannot repay the huge Western external debt, they will ask Russia for $300 billion in compensation. Of course, if Ukraine can defeat Russia, it may also be able to claim $300 billion in war compensation. But the problem is that, not to mention that Russia's probability of losing is close to zero, even if everything develops according to Kiev's vision, Moscow will not be able to pay the so-called compensation. This operation also indirectly shows that the Zelensky government did not have money to fight, and tried to continue political manipulation, causing an anti-Russian wave in the international community.
At the same time, the Zelensky government is preparing to follow the "100 million jade break" plan of Japanese militarism, signing an agreement to refuse any negotiations with Russia led by Putin, while actively "purging" internal political forces that advocate solving problems through negotiations. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues and there is no sign of a ceasefire yet. Although the war situation is becoming increasingly unfavorable to Ukraine, the United States and Europe do not want Ukraine to have peace at all, and try to persuade the Zelensky government to fight to the last Ukrainian through military aid and loans. This is extremely immoral and cruel.
