What Ukraine Needs Now
The tally of Russia’s material destruction in Ukraine reached $63 billion on March 24. The Kyiv School of Economics estimates that “at least 4431 residential buildings, 92 factories/warehouses, 378 institutions of secondary and higher education, 138 healthcare institutions, 12 airports, 7 thermal power plants/hydroelectric power plants have been damaged, destroyed or seized in Ukraine” by Russian forces.
This figure—now almost three weeks out of date—is likely a serious underestimate of the damage done to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion. Whatever the true figure is, it is a climbing target. Russia smashes homes in Ukraine every day. As economic activity ceases and combat costs mount, the war has plunged the Ukrainian government’s budget catastrophically deep into deficit, perhaps $7 billion a month, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the figure.
Even now, at this maximum moment of global sympathy, international assistance to Ukraine is falling far short of its needs. The Biden administration seems determined to dribble aid in increments——even as the war costs hundreds of millions of
