How Much Russia Has Spent on Its War in Ukraine

“Russia has paid a staggering price for Putin’s folly,” Austin said. “It’s squandered more than $200 billion and suffered at least 700,000 casualties.” The unprecedented spending underpins the Kremlin’s aggression but has dealt severe economic damage domestically.

Russia’s military spending in dynamics

Russia’s defense budget has soared since 2022 to the highest levels since the Cold War era. While exact figures are challenging to pin down due to opaque accounting, available data aligns closely with the Pentagon’s estimates, suggesting that the staggering costs cited by Secretary Austin are not far from the truth.

Russia's defense budgets since the start of the full-scale invasion:

• 2022: $86.4 billion, a 31% increase from 2021, comprising 4.4% of GDP

• 2023: $109.5 billion, a 26.7% rise from the previous year 

• 2024: $112 billion, sustaining a high allocation for military purposes

• 2025: Projected to soar to $142 billion, accounting for 32.5% of government spending

The Russian government plans to allocate 6% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to military spending, prioritizing defense over social programs—a clear indication of a full-scale wartime economy. 

In comparison, NATO requires its member states to allocate 2% of GDP to defense. Notable exceptions include countries like Poland, Lithuania, and the United States, which allocate close to 4% of their GDP to defense spending. 

Recruitment costs for the Russian military are soaring, with one-time enlistment payments climbing as high as $20,000 and monthly salaries between $2,000 and $5,000.

Ukraine’s military intelligence estimates that 580,000 soldiers are currently deployed in the war. Each soldier must be outfitted, equipped, and fed. 

In the first half of 2023 alone, nearly $13.42 billion was spent on military salaries—more than double the amount paid during the same period in 2022, according to The Moscow Times.

Compensation for casualties is a growing strain on Russia’s budget. By mid-2024, the Kremlin had already set aside $23 billion for military death and injury payouts—roughly 6% of the annual national budget, according to analysts writing for War on the Rocks, a platform for expert analysis on defense and strategy.

The financial toll extends to the staggering loss of military equipment. Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that Russia’s battlefield losses as of late 2024 include:

The total value of Russia’s destroyed military equipment is estimated to exceed $79 billion, according to financial models built by Minfin, a Ukrainian financial media outlet. 

Bloomberg reports that roughly a third of Russia’s defense budget is swallowed up by the cost of repairing, manufacturing, and purchasing weapons. With stockpiles running dry and outdated equipment failing, the Kremlin has no choice but to pour money into producing new hardware.

High-precision missiles like Kalibrs, Iskanders, and Kinzhals cost $6.5 million, $3 million, and $10 million per unit, respectively. 

Each artillery shell that Russians liberally use in their war efforts costs approximately $1,000 to $3,000, and they produce about 250,000 artillery munitions per month, equating to roughly 3 million rounds annually, estimates NATO intelligence shared with CNN.

Sanctions and a lack of access to critical components make this task even harder. After years of neglecting industrial growth, Russia now faces the costly challenge of ramping up production, entirely reliant on state funds, as the defense sector remains incapable of attracting private investment.

Now Russians have been allocating funds to procure ammunition from North Korea while engaging in active trade with Iran for military equipment, including securing licenses to produce Shahed drones domestically.

Russia's economic stability hinges on maintaining high oil prices, with oil and gas revenues expected to account for 5% of GDP in 2025, the Bank of Finland reported.

The Kremlin’s budget framework assumes an average export price of $70 per barrel for Russian oil in 2025 and 2026. 

If prices fall significantly below this level, financing increased government spending, particularly for the military, will become far more challenging.