Russia's spending on the war against Ukraine has reached a record $28.6 million per hour
Russia’s federal budget expenditures on the war against Ukraine reached a record high of approximately $123.4 billion in the first half of 2026. These figures were calculated by Janis Klug, a research fellow at the German Institute for International Security Affairs, based on data from the Russian Ministry of Finance.
Compared to the same period last year, spending on the military and weapons production increased by another 30%—approximately $28.4 billion. Compared to January–June 2024, the Russian Federation’s military budget increased by 65%, or approximately $48.7 billion. Compared to 2023, the increase is 145%, and compared to the first year of the full-scale war, it is 285%.
Compared to the pre-war year of 2021, Russia’s military spending has increased more than fivefold.
On average, the Russian military spent about $20.6 billion per month, $684 million per day, or $28.6 million per hour.
According to the results of the first half of the year, military spending accounted for 43.8% of all expenditures in the Russian Federation’s federal budget—a new all-time high, notes Kluge.
When compared to budget revenues, the figure is even higher: 57.3% of all funds received by the budget went toward financing the military and the defense-industrial complex. A year earlier, 39.2% of budget expenditures and 46.8% of its revenues were spent on the war. Before the start of full-scale war, these figures were 20% and 19.8%, respectively.
Exactly two-thirds of the Russian military budget is classified. According to Kluge’s calculations, in the first six months, the Kremlin spent about $41 billion on disclosed defense items and another $82.5 billion on classified ones. Compared to last year, “shadow” budget expenditures rose by 42%, and compared to the pre-war period, they increased more than sevenfold.
In total, since the beginning of 2022, the Kremlin has spent $660 billion on the military and weapons procurement at the current official exchange rate. This amount is comparable to the total gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation—$720.3 billion as of August 1—and is 2.2 times greater than the value of the country’s entire gold reserves, estimated at $292.8 billion.
Source: Janis Klug / Russian Ministry of Finance data
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine had been preparing to welcome Donald Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, at the airport. However, due to Russian airstrikes, the American representatives were unable to fly and arrived in Kyiv by train.
On Sunday, September 6, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in central Kyiv with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The American representatives had held talks at the Kremlin the day before and had now arrived in Ukraine for meetings with Ukrainian officials.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have arrived in Kyiv. They arrived in the capital and were already at Kyiv Central Station—this is their first visit to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
