Interview with Selenskyj's adviser: "The best economic promotion for Ukraine are weapons"

The economy of Ukraine is facing a dramatic slump. Russia’s attacks on the country’s infrastructure are making the situation increasingly difficult. The adviser to President Selenskyj is therefore demanding more support from Germany and wants to mobilize Russian funds for reconstruction.

The Russian rocket attacks on Ukrainian power plants and power lines have had devastating consequences for the country’s economy: the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country suffering from the war is likely to collapse by up to 40 percent – even more than originally feared. “Russia is using the attacks on our infrastructure as an economic weapon,” says Alexander Rodnyansky, advisor to the Ukrainian president, in the podcast “Zero Hour”. “It wants to drive our economy to collapse.” Among other things, Ukrainian electricity exports are also affected, until recently a source of income for the country. “40 percent of our energy system is damaged,” says Rodnyansky.

In order to strengthen the state budget and keep the country running, Rodnyansky is counting on the EU and the USA increasing their already extensive financial aid. “It’s about continuing to function – paying our pensions, paying wages, continuing to run state-owned companies,” he says. A task for which billions are needed every month, as tax revenues have plummeted. Even more important, however, is military support, also to protect the critical infrastructure from Russian attacks with the help of anti-aircraft systems. “Weapons are the best way to promote Ukraine’s economy,” said Rodnyansky, who has good experience with the German Iris-T air defense system.

As far as the future reconstruction of the devastated areas in Ukraine is concerned, the presidential adviser is also relying on Russian funds, some of which have been frozen in Western countries. “We should definitely try that. The challenge is in the legal area because there is hardly any precedent,” he said. However, the private assets of Russian oligarchs are essentially funds that are controlled by the Kremlin. “We are hopeful that we can get hold of these assets of the corrupt Russian elites and the Russian state – and use them to finance our reconstruction,” Rodnyansky said.

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