According to Mykola Azarov, the former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Ukraine's economy is a "zombie" that only has one lifeline: Western financing.

The former PM wrote on Telegram on Monday that the economy was "falling apart,"

Azarov argued that Ukraine's national economy is “falling apart,” with Ukraine facing little GDP growth and a potential devaluation of the hryvna "under pressure from the International Monetary Fund."

Meanwhile, despite Western help, state debt is rising, and the fiscal deficit is growing, according to Azarov.

“The best illustration of the catastrophic state of affairs is that the budget of the country at war lacks more than $6 billion to pay the Ukrainian military alone,” Azarov remarked.

Azarov alleged that despite Kiev's pledges, the families of Polish mercenaries slain during the fighting had not received any compensation.

Ukrainian economy resembles a 'zombie'

“As a result, the Ukrainian economy increasingly resembles a ‘zombie’ – it shows signs of life only with foreign financial assistance, which it requires more and more,” Azarov observed.

According to Azarov, Ukraine's "closest analogs" in terms of economic challenges are Afghanistan and Haiti, adding that even the most "daring" projections indicate that Ukraine will need more than 30 years to catch up to Romania or Poland's present economic levels.

Another year into the war and suffering a budget deficit for 2024 of more than $40 billion, finance officials in Ukraine are racing time to keep the cash flowing every which way, and to keep their head above water. 

Efforts to do so have included selling war bonds, lobbying for international aid, and repositioning existing debts, while others include taxing financial intermediaries like Euroclear, which allegedly profit from Russian assets, and raising money by using complex structures from international bond investors. 

The Head of macroeconomic research at Ukraine-based brokerage ICU, Vitaliy Vavryshchuk, said: "If the government cannot cover its budgetary gaps, then the government will not be able to finance its military effort".

ICU is launching a program in consultation with the government this week intended to remotely sell government bonds to individuals residing abroad, namely in Western Europe, but still, that would likely be a drop in the bucket that Ukraine needs to fill. 

This is also why Ukraine has been ramping up its efforts to get admitted into the European Union, because this would give it access to hundreds of billions of euros.

Money will eventually push EU to force Kiev into peace talks: Orban

European countries will ultimately force Ukraine into peace negotiations with Russia due to the bloc's plummeting economic standard, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.

Furthermore, the Hungarian premier criticized the European approach to the conflict thus far, highlighting the substantial financial support provided to Ukraine. He contended that despite the significant financial aid amounting to "181 billion of European money," there has been no progress toward achieving peace.

During an interview for Kossuth Radio on Friday, Orban asserted that the "deterioration of the economic situation in the West will force countries to stand up for peace." 

Meanwhile, Ukraine is being encouraged by its Western allies to shift from attempting offensive operations to holding its ground in the second half of October, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Ukrainian media reported on Friday, citing a senior conscription officer, that almost nine out of every ten Ukrainian draftees who enlisted in the army a year ago have either been killed or injured in combat.