‘If people are in a bunker, business stops’: Missile alerts cost Ukraine $45m for every hour they halt businesses

Ukraine’s economy minister has highlighted the severe financial toll of Russian missile strikes, revealing that hourly missile alerts—now frequent—are halting business operations at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, further straining the country’s economic resilience. The attacks have shifted focus to critical infrastructure, with strikes on industrial facilities, logistics centers, and data hubs deliberately targeting the backbone of Ukraine’s economy, according to officials. As Kyiv struggles to maintain normalcy, the destruction risks crippling key sectors, deepening the humanitarian and economic crisis. The latest disruptions underscore the delicate balance between survival and stability amid relentless bombardment.

Minister tells Guardian of trade-offs Kyiv facing as it tries to keep normal life moving amid Russian strikesMissile alerts are costing Ukraine an estimated $45m (£34m) for every hour they bring business to a halt, according to the country’s economy minister, as Kyiv searches for ways to keep the economy running under an intensifying Russian bombardment.Russia has increasingly targeted the infrastructure underpinning Ukraine’s economy, striking industrial sites, warehouses, logistics hubs and datacentres in what Oleksandr Kravchenko, the minister for economy and the environment, described as an effort to “destroy pretty much the entire economy”. Continue reading...