The Russia-Ukraine war, which began with Russia’s invasion four years ago, on February 24, 2022, has continued despite thousands of casualties and numerous rounds of peace negotiations. A joint report by the World Bank, European Union (EU), United Nations, and Ukraine, published on February 23, estimates the cost of post-war construction in Ukraine to be around $558 billion over the next decade, nearly three times the country’s estimated GDP in 2025.

The war has taken a toll on both countries. Russia, one of the world’s largest economies, has been battered by sanctions imposed by the EU and the U.S. As shown in the chart below, its economy grew by less than 1% last year and is estimated to grow by another 1% in 2026.

The economic condition of Ukraine, one of the poorest European nations even before the war, has worsened in recent years. The country is reeling under mounting government debt, rising reliance on aid, and heavy damage to infrastructure. Its GDP growth contracted by almost 30% in 2022. Its economy, which grew by just 2% last year, is estimated to recover to 4.5% in 2026.

Data show that people in both Russia and Ukraine have been feeling the pinch of the conflict.

Consumer price inflation in both countries surged to a six-year high at the outset of the war in 2022. It has remained persistently elevated in the years since. For instance, in Russia, inflation surged to 14% in 2022, moderated to 5% in 2023, but subsequently increased to 9% in the last year.

The cost of essential items such as basic food products has risen substantially in both countries. In Russia, a kilogramme of bread increased by 13% this month compared to a year ago and increased by over 50% compared to five years ago, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index.

Similarly, the price of a kilogramme of rice increased by 40% this month, compared to 2022. The chart below shows the retail prices of select food items in Russia and Ukraine.

In Ukraine, the cost of basic food products such as wheat and maize has increased by 15% compared to four years ago. The price of wheat flour increased from 12,633 Ukrainian Hryvnia (UAH)/tonne in February 2022 to 14,700 UAH/tonne in 2026.

High levels of defence spending also resulted in decreased allocation for social spending, education, and healthcare in both countries. In Ukraine, defence spending consistently accounted for more than half of the country’s spending since 2022. In contrast, expenditure on education, health care, and social protection declined by more than half when compared to 2021.

Defence spending surged to over 20% of the country’s GDP in 2022 and was estimated to reach 26% by 2025. The sharp increase has widened the budget deficit, and the country’s gross government debt accounted for over 109% of the country’s GDP in 2025.

In Russia, defence spending accounted for almost 30% of the total expenditure. The country’s social spending did not decrease drastically like Ukraine’s.

However, a research paper published by SIPRI notes that Russia’s military spending is not always classified under ‘national defence’, but is sometimes recorded under other categories, such as social support. This makes it difficult to find out its exact non-defence expenditure.

The war has come at a severe human cost. Last month, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies estimated that 1.2 million people were killed, wounded, and missing in Russia between February 2022 and December 2025. The corresponding figure for Ukraine was 5 lakh-6 lakh.

The data for the charts were sourced from the International Monetary Fund, Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index, World Bank, OECD Economic Survey, and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

Published – February 26, 2026 08:00 am IST

In a video posted on social media February 20, evening, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó accused Ukraine of “blackmailing” Hungary by failing to restart oil shipments. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Kyiv:

Russia launched a record 188 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv said Tuesday, amid growing international tensions after Russia fired a nuclear-capable missile that could reach European cities.

The Kremlin declined on Tuesday to confirm that Ukrainian forces had again launched US-provided long-range ATACMS at Russia this week but blamed Washington for escalating the conflict nonetheless.

Moscow and Kyiv have been ratcheting up their drone and missile broadsides, with Ukraine recently firing US long-range missiles at Russia and the Kremlin retaliating with an experimental hypersonic missile.

The barrage came as ambassadors from Ukraine and NATO’s 32 members were due to meet in Brussels over Russia’s firing last week of the intermediate-range missile on the city of Dnipro.

“During the night attack, the enemy launched a record number of Shahed strike unmanned aerial vehicles and unidentified drones,” the air force said Tuesday, referring to Iranian-designed drones and putting the overall number fired at 188.

The air force said it had shot down 76 Russian drones in 17 regions, while another 95 were either lost from their radars or downed by electronic jamming defensive systems. It did not specify what happened to the remainder.

Moscow also fired four Iskander-M ballistic missiles, the air force said.

“Unfortunately, critical infrastructure facilities were hit, private and apartment buildings were damaged in several regions,” a statement said.

Explosions in Kyiv

AFP journalists heard explosions ring out over the capital, while Kyiv city officials said the air alert had lasted five hours and 10 Russian drones were shot down there.

In the western Ternopil region, which is among those spared the worst of the fighting, authorities said drones had damaged a “critical infrastructure facility,” without elaborating.

They said however that the attack had disrupted electricity in the city of Ternopil and surrounding towns, and that engineers were working to stabilise supplies.

Putin had said the new missile attack last week was in response to Ukraine firing weapons supplied by the United States and Britain into Russia.

The Kremlin leader warned that Moscow felt it had the right to hit military facilities in countries that allow Ukraine to use their weapons against Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week called the strike “the latest bout of Russian madness” and appealed for updated air-defence systems to meet the new threat.

Kyiv says it hopes to get “concrete and meaningful outcomes” after calling the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council.

But diplomats and officials at NATO have played down expectations for any major results from the consultations on Tuesday afternoon at the alliance’s Brussels headquarters.

The most that is expected is a reiteration of NATO’s earlier insistence that Moscow’s deployment of the new weaponry will not “deter NATO allies from supporting Ukraine”.

Russian forces advance

The meeting “provides an opportunity to discuss the current security situation in Ukraine and will include briefings from Ukrainian officials via video link,” a NATO official said.

The Kremlin dismissed the meeting saying it was unlikely any significant decisions would be taken.

On the battlefield, Ukraine’s fatigued troops are struggling to halt advances by Russian forces in the east of the country.

Russia said Tuesday its troops had captured another village in the Kharkiv region, in an area where the front line had been relatively stable until recently.

The defence ministry said its units had “liberated” the settlement of Kopanky,” a village near the Ukrainian-held city of Kupiansk that was previously captured by Russian forces at the start of the 2022 offensive before being re-taken by Ukraine later that year.

Moscow also on Tuesday confirmed it had detained a British man it captured fighting for Ukraine in Kyiv’s offensive into Russia’s western Kursk region.

A court in the region said it had on Monday ordered James Scott Rhys Anderson be remanded in custody, alleging he had “participated in armed hostilities on the territory of the Kursk region”.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

A view shows a destroyed car in front of a residential building, which was damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Sumy, Ukraine November 18, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

When Yuriy Shelmuk co-founded a company last year making drone signal jammers, he said there was little interest in the devices. It now produces 2,500 a month and has a six-week waiting list.

Demand shifted after the failure of a major Ukrainian counter-offensive in the summer of 2023 that was meant to put invading Russian forces on the back foot. Kyiv cited Russia’s extensive use of unmanned aerial vehicles to spot and strike targets, as well as vast numbers of landmines and troops.

“Concentrated, cheap aerial drones stopped all our assaults,” Shelmuk said. “There was an understanding that a new game changer had appeared.”

The vast majority of more than 800 companies in Ukraine’s burgeoning defence production sector were founded after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion that enters its 1,000th day on Tuesday.

Many were set up in response to rapidly evolving battlefield conditions, including drones – first in the skies and then also on land and at sea – as well as anti-drone technology and, increasingly, artificial intelligence.

“The Ukrainian military-industrial sector is the fastest innovating sector in the entire world right now,” said Halyna Yanchenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker who has advocated for local arms manufacturers in parliament.

Both Ukraine and Russia are on track to make around 1.5 million drones this year, mostly small “first-person view” vehicles that cost a few hundred dollars apiece and can be piloted remotely to identify and attack enemy targets.

In February, Ukrainian troops were already telling Reuters that the preponderance of Russian drones made it harder for them to move around freely and build fortifications.

By summer, as Russia began taking Ukrainian territory at the fastest rate since the early days of the conflict, most battered military pickup trucks sported electronic warfare (EW) domes that would have only been put on high-value equipment last year.

Shelmuk’s company, Unwave, is one of some 30 firms manufacturing such systems, which block signals and use various means to disrupt computer systems inside drones.

Most anti-drone EW systems jam one, or at best a small handful of radio frequencies, meaning Russian drone pilots can sidestep jamming by hopping on to a new frequency.

EW makers thus monitor Russian drone-related online chats to understand which frequencies their drones will use.

War of robots

As losses mount and exhaustion sets in, both sides in the war are trying to replace humans with machines. Ukraine has struggled to replenish units depleted over time by fighting; Russia has reportedly turned to North Korea.

Seven officials and industry figures told Reuters automation would be the main focus of battlefield innovation in the coming year.

“The number of infantrymen deployed in trenches has decreased significantly, and combat command is possible to do online from a remote point, which reduces the risk of personnel being killed,” said Ostap Flyunt, an officer in the 67th mechanised brigade.

Ukraine now has more than 160 companies building unmanned ground vehicles, according to state-backed defence accelerator Brave1. They can be used to deliver supplies, evacuate wounded or carry remotely operated machine guns.

An army colonel, callsign Hephaestus, recently left the military to start building automated machine gun systems. He said six of his products were already substituting human gunners on the front, allowing them to operate the weapons on a screen far away from danger.

Flyunt said this was increasingly common: “Modern war is a confrontation of technologies for detection, jamming, and destruction at a distance, leaving to the operator only the ability to make decisions about strikes,” he said.

Arms minister Herman Smetanin also said remote warfare, including using artificial intelligence, was on the increase.

“In the near future, this will be the main direction of development, the war of robots,” he told Reuters. “It’s about people’s lives, we need to protect them.”

Ukraine hopes an innovative defence sector will provide a new foundation for an economy devastated by the invasion.

The country has poured $1.5 billion into upgrading defence manufacturing which had stagnated since Soviet times, arms minister Smetanin said, although it still relies on Western allies for shells, missiles and air defences.

Defence production capacity has grown from $1 billion in 2022 to $20 billion in 2024, but Ukraine can only afford to buy about half of that, the minister said, leaving the extra manufacturing capacity unused.

Some manufacturers complain of strict limits on profit margins and a lack of long-term state procurement contracts – an issue President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he intends to address.

Four companies Reuters spoke to also said they struggled to find enough qualified staff.

Kateryna Mykhalko, director of Tech Force in UA, an association of private defence manufacturers, said 85% of 38 firms surveyed by her organisation were either considering relocating operations abroad or had already done so.

The thorniest issue for many is a wartime ban on arms exports that companies want repealed in order to generate capital for expansion. Officials are concerned about public disapproval of an aid-dependent country at war exporting arms.

An employee works at a production facility of Unwave company, a Ukrainian producer of jammers and radio electronic warfare, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location, Ukraine October 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Russia downed 59 Ukranian drones overnight, the majority across border regions, the Defence Ministry said on Monday (November 18, 2024).

“During the past night, attempts by the Kyiv regime to carry out terrorist UAV attacks against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation were thwarted,” the Ministry said in a statement.

“Fifty-nine Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed by air defence systems,” it added.

The Ministry said the majority of drones were downed across three regions bordering Ukraine: 45 in Bryansk, six in Kursk and three in Belgorod.

Three drones were intercepted in the region of Tula, south of the capital, while two others were downed over the Moscow region.

Sergei Sobyanin, mayor of Moscow, said one was destroyed over the Ramenskoye district without causing casualties or damage.

The second was located in Pavlovo-Possad district, he said on Telegram.

Moscow announces almost daily that it has destroyed Ukranian drones, but the number is usually lower than Monday’s figure.

Kyiv says it carries out such attacks, which often target energy infrastructure, in response to Russian bombardment of its territory.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presents a pair of Pungsan dogs to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang, North Korea on Wednesday. (Image provided by Korean State media)
| Photo Credit: AP via KCNA

The story so far: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a “comprehensive strategic” partnership deal with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang on Wednesday as the two countries sought to deepen their security ties in a bid to challenge the West-dominated world order.

Mr. Putin was on a two-day visit to North Korea – his first in 24 years – and signed the deal that has been hailed as the “strongest between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War” by experts. Kim Jong-un has called it a ‘breakthrough” pact.

Also Read:Kim Jong Un was ‘sincere’ in denuclearisation talks: former South Korea president

What are the historical relations between Russia and North Korea?

Ties between Pyongyang and Moscow go back to the Soviet times. The Soviet Union was the first nation to recognise North Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), when it came into existence in 1948 under Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung. Moscow supported DPRK in the 1950-53 Korean War while the U.S. supported the Republic of Korea (ROK), or South Korea. In a previously classified letter, which is now available in Wilson Centre’s digital archives, Kim Il-sung thanked Soviet leader Joseph Stalin for his “invaluable assistance” to DPRK’s “struggle for independence.”

Stalin’s support for DPRK in the Korean War, however, also benefited the leader’s larger ambition to push back the U.S. in the Cold War, which was evident from another “top secret” letter he wrote under the codename “Fillipov” in 1950. “One might ask why we have now returned to the Security Council. We have returned to continue exposing the aggressive policy of the American government and to prevent it from using the flag of the Security Council as a smokescreen for its aggression. Now that America has become aggressively involved in Korea, it will be very easy to achieve this goal while in the Security Council. I think that this is clear and needs no further explanation,” Stalin said in a letter to the Soviet ambassador in Prague.

Also Read: Russia and North Korea sign partnership deal, vowing closer ties as rivalry deepens with West

Initially robust, relations between the countries declined as the rift between China and Russia grew after the Korean War ended. The Soviet Union also established diplomatic relations with ROK, further isolating DPRK in the region. Russia, which succeeded the Soviet Union, continued these diplomatic relations.

Mr. Putin’s election as President of Russia in 2000, however, somewhat turned the tide in favour of DPRK. After his election, he visited Pyongyang in July 2000, to meet Kim Jong-II, former leader of DPRK and Kim Jong-un’s father, and the two issued a joint criticism of U.S. missile defence plans.

In 2012, Russia agreed to write off 90% of North Korea’s estimated $11 billion debt, although Russia supported UN Security Council sanctions against the North between 2016 and 2017 as Kim Jong-un accelerated the country’s nuclear and missile tests. Kim-Jong un, in fact, attempted to improve his diplomatic ties with the U.S. and ROK in favour of his nuclear programme, while also working on relations with historical allies China and Russia.

Strategic visits by North Korean leaders to Russia are also symbolic of the cooperation between the two countries. Kim Jong-iI visited Russia in 2001, 2002, and in 2010; while his son and current leader Kim Jong-un visited Russia in 2019 and 2023. The two countries also share a land border.

What does the new deal entail?

According to DPRK’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, Kim Jong-un and Mr. Putin discussed a “series of important plans for safeguarding the common core interests while deepening the strategic partnership and alliance relations between the two countries.” The pact, officially called the “Treaty on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation,” calls for immediate military and other assistance “using all available means” if either party is involved in a war, which it claims is in alignment with Article 51 of the U.N. charter (dealing with self-defence.)

The treaty also talks about building a “just and multipolar new world order,” and taking joint actions to strengthen defence capabilities. Food, which is a chronic area of shortage for the DPRK, also finds mention in the treaty.

What does the deal mean in the current geopolitical context?

North Korea has, time and again, expressed its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that started in February 2022, alluding to a crucial positive era in its relationship with Russia. In July 2022, North Korea recognised Donetsk and Luhansk, in Ukraine’s Donbas region, as independent States after Russia and Syria did so. (Both these regions were annexed by Russia in September that year.) DPRK has, in the past, also blamed the Russia-Ukraine crisis on U.S.-led West’s “hegemonic policy”.

The U.S. and South Korea believe DPRK has been supplying Russia artillery, missiles and other military equipment for use in Ukraine, as Russia continues to wage the largest land war in Europe since the end of the Second World War. Russia, which has a vibrant military-industrial base, is reportedly sourcing weapons from North Korea and Iran, while the U.S. and European nations continue to assist Ukraine.

In October 2023, Beyond Parallel, a U.S.-based think tank, reported a “dramatic increase” in freight rail traffic on the land border between Russia and DPRK following a summit between Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin. “Given that Kim and Putin discussed some military exchanges and cooperation at their recent summit, the dramatic increase in rail traffic likely indicates North Korea’s supply of arms and munitions to Russia. However, the extensive use of tarps to cover the shipping crates/containers and equipment makes it impossible to conclusively identify what is seen at (North Korea’s) Tumangang Rail Facility,” the organisation said. Both Russia and North Korea have denied any weapons sale. Experts also believe North Korea is leveraging high-tech nuclear weapons and missile technologies from Russia in exchange for the arms.

Russia has also been a significant supplier of energy to North Korea— even more important after it suffered huge losses in revenue as Europe cut off trade with the country following its invasion of Ukraine. U.S., as a common adversary, also brings Russia and North Korea together as both countries attempt to create a shift in global power away from the West, with China on their side.

A resident from Vovchansk who fled due to Russian shelling, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, arrive in evacuation centre in Kharkiv, Ukraine on May 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russia pounded over 30 villages and towns in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region after launching a ground offensive in the border region, forcing almost 6,000 to evacuate, the Governor said on Monday.

Ukraine’s General Staff acknowledged on Monday that Russia “currently is achieving tactical success” after driving a wedge into Kyiv’s defences.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday that troops had “improved the tactical position and dealt a blow to (Ukrainian) manpower” around border villages including Lyptsi and the town of Vovchansk.

“They are shelling the villages, firing on everything they can,” Sergiy Kryvetchenko, deputy head of the military administration in the village of Lyptsi, told AFP.

“The KABs (guided aerial bombs) are flying. The artillery is flying. Drones. Everything,” he said.

On Friday, Russia began an offensive across its border into the Kharkiv region and later claimed to have taken several villages in the region near the border.

The situation in the Kharkiv region is “complex and dynamically changing”, with Russian troops mounting assaults in various areas, Ukraine’s General Staff said.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on social media that over the last day, “more than 30” towns and villages “were struck by enemy artillery and mortar attacks”, wounding at least nine people.

Some areas were also bombed by Russian aircraft, Mr. Synegubov added.

A total of 5,762 people have been evacuated from their homes since the start of the offensive, the governor said.

Over the course of Sunday, Russia “carried out 22 assaults” in five border areas, 14 of which were still ongoing, the General Staff said.

The General Staff said fighting was ongoing for the border town of Vovchansk, where Russia was deploying “significant forces”, numbering up to five battalions.

Vovchansk, which previously had a population of 2,500 but now has only 200-300 residents, suffered “massive shelling” on Sunday that hit houses and wounded seven, said Mr. Synegubov.

A 69-year-old man was also wounded in the town of Izyum by detonating ammunition and a woman was injured in a village near the town of Kupiansk.

The city of Kharkiv itself had not been struck over the last 24 hours, however, he said.

‘Expanding’ front line

Mr. Synegubov said on national television that “the grey zone and the front line are expanding” because Russia is “trying to deliberately stretch it, attacking in small groups in new directions”.

The DeepState Telegram channel, which is close to the Ukrainian army, wrote that Russia had taken pockets of territory measuring around 100 square kilometres (39 square miles).

Russia “continues to advance to Vovchansk”, the channel said.

“They are gaining foothold on the outskirts for further entry into the town.”

Russia was also advancing towards the border village of Lyptsi and attempting to enter the nearby village of Glyboke, it said.

Ukraine was mounting “constant fire”, including from drones, “but unfortunately it does not stop them”.

The Russian defence ministry said troops had repelled Ukrainian counterattacks near Glyboke.

Rybar, a Russian Telegram channel with military links, said Moscow’s offensive led to territorial gains because troops took some villages where Russian soldiers already had a presence and others that were “deserted wastelands”.

As of Monday morning, there were no “large-scale breakthroughs of the enemy’s defences”, Rybar said.

Ukrainian military said Russia was also shelling the Sumy and Chernigiv border regions further west.