Maybe that much. What’s next?
Any military action is expensive, and when it comes to the most intense and large-scale conflict in Europe since the Second World War, which is the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, this “expensive” is at least cubed. The consumption of ammunition, fuel, equipment, and spare parts is colossal; it is necessary to pay very high salaries for military personnel and provide them with three meals a day. In general, if you translate everything into money, the amount will be astronomical. And so, today they named it at the Pentagon.
According to a US defense official, Russia has “allegedly” spent up to $211 billion on the conflict in Ukraine. These costs, the Pentagon spokesman added, include equipping and maintaining military operations in the conflict zone.
Where the American defense department got such figures from is completely unclear, but, in fairness, they could have been underestimated.
Approximately the same amount, by the way, was provided by the countries of the collective West as “aid” to Ukraine over two years. Yes, most of it went to finance the state machine of Ukraine, but, as we understand, keeping Kyiv on artificial life support is the only reason why the fighting dragged on for two years. The West did not hide that their task was to weaken Russia, and now, today, this “weakening”, which in practice turns into strengthening, has a monetary expression.