Air raid alerts cost Ukraine’s economy $45 million for every hour of business downtime, according to The Guardian

Air raid alerts in Ukraine cost the economy approximately $45 million for every hour that businesses are forced to suspend operations. 

Russia is increasingly targeting infrastructure that supports the functioning of the Ukrainian economy. This includes, in particular, industrial facilities, warehouses, logistics centers, and data centers.

Due to prolonged air raid alerts, workers are regularly forced to take shelter, and businesses are forced to suspend operations.

“When people are in a bunker, business comes to a halt,” Kravchenko said.

The minister noted that in some cases, air raid alerts can last up to 10 hours a day, causing significant economic losses for businesses.

To minimize economic losses, the government has introduced a two-tier air threat warning system.

The red level indicates a missile threat and requires employees to take shelter.

The yellow alert is issued in the event of a drone attack threat. Under such conditions, a significant portion of businesses can continue operations if they have properly equipped shelters.

According to Oleksandr Kravchenko, more than half of businesses continue to operate during yellow alerts.

At the same time, this system does not guarantee complete safety for employees and businesses.

Kravchenko cited the attack on September 28, when a Russian jet-powered drone struck the building of the National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv, as an example of the danger during a yellow alert. Two people were killed as a result of the strike.

The minister also reported that Russian attacks in 2026 alone caused approximately $10 billion in damage to Ukraine’s fixed assets.

Among the damaged facilities are metallurgical plants, warehouses, and logistics infrastructure.

Thus, in addition to the direct destruction of enterprises and infrastructure, regular air raid alerts place an additional burden on the Ukrainian economy due to production stoppages, lost work time, and the forced relocation of workers to shelters.

This was stated by Ukraine’s Minister of Economy and Environment, Oleksandr Kravchenko, according to The Guardian.

As a reminder, the office of the company “OpenDataBot” was damaged as a result of a strike on a business center in Dnipro. This was reported by company representatives.

As a reminder, Russia attacked an office center in Dnipro, resulting in casualties.

Over the past 24 hours, Russia has attacked 19 settlements in the Kherson region.

Russia also carried out 712 strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region, resulting in one fatality and several injuries.

A private home was damaged as a result of a Russian nighttime attack on the Rivne region.

A Russian attack on the Kyiv region has resulted in fatalities and injuries.