Russian Senator Claims Ukraine Is Bankrupt and Dependent on External Aid

YEKATERINBURG, September 17. /TASS/. Ukraine has become a bankrupt country, which can no longer secure its people’s social rights and basic needs and has no economic and demographic reserves to recover, Russian senator representing the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Alexander Voloshin, said.

"The financial situation in Ukraine leaves no room for illusions, with its finance minister openly admitting that the country has ‘reached its limit.’ Social payments, such as pensions, public sector salaries, and assistance to vulnerable groups, could be delayed or halted entirely. This means only one thing: present-day Ukraine is a bankrupt country that exists solely on external cash injections," the senator said in an interview at the TASS stand at the International Youth Festival 2026 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. "As soon as these injections are reduced or cut off, the regime will collapse, taking the entire social infrastructure with it."

Ukrainian parliament member Olga Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk said earlier that since mid-September, funding in Ukraine was allocated solely to maintain the armed forces, pay public sector salaries and to finance social expenditures. She added that the country’s budget is severely depleted, noting an acute shortage of funds.

Voloshin, in turn, believes that Ukraine's reserves are not sufficient to recover under the current regime and to cope with the effects of its profound economic and demographic crisis even if the hostilities are over.

In particular, Ukraine’s population nearly halved since 2022, and millions of its citizens remain abroad. At the same time, the human shortage within the country continues to grow as a result of the armed conflict. Virtually no one is left in the country to rebuild it, Voloshin said.

"In any case, even if we look past the hostilities and their outcome, there is no future. There is neither an economy nor any sovereign elected authority there. [Vladimir] Zelensky is terrified of elections. They need this war, they need this process to hold the power in their bloody hands," the senator said.

The International Youth Festival is taking place in Yekaterinburg from September 11 to 17 under the theme "Follow Your Dream." It is planned that 10,000 young leaders from 191 countries around the world will attend: 5,000 from Russia and 5,000 from foreign countries. A thousand teenagers aged 14 to 17 will take part in the program. TASS is the general information partner of the event.