British bombshell: $389 billion required for war with Russia by 2029 - The EU will pay and collapse along with Ukraine

The magazine The Economist, a renowned mouthpiece of the Western economic and political elites, now admits what Moscow has been pointing out for years: Ukraine has entered a state of economic and political collapse, and the price for continuing the war now falls almost entirely on the European allies of the United States.
According to the estimate by the British Economist, Kyiv will need about $389 billion between 2026 and 2029 to continue funding the war effort and to keep its economy afloat.
This is almost double the $206 billion it has received in total since February 2022 — of which $133 billion came from the United States.
However, the new American administration under Donald Trump has halted all financial flows, forcing Europe to shoulder the burden.
Thus, Europe, already mired in an energy crisis, social discontent, and political fragmentation, is now called to finance an extension of a war that cannot be won.

Ukraine on the brink of economic abyss

According to the article, Ukraine is facing a relentless financial crisis.
Unless something changes dramatically, the state will run out of cash by the end of February 2026.
Public debt has skyrocketed to 110% of GDP, the fiscal deficit is reaching 20%, and creditors are now exhausted.
The domestic economy is devastated: millions of Ukrainians have left the country, infrastructure has been bombed, and the productive base has nearly vanished.
In short, Ukraine is no longer a sovereign state but an economic protectorate of the West, surviving solely thanks to loans and subsidies decided in Brussels and Washington.

Europe at an impasse - Fractures and contradictions

The plan from Brussels to rescue the Kyiv regime is based on the idea of using “frozen” Russian assets worth $163 billion, held in European financial institutions.
However, even this plan is causing rifts within the European Union (EU).
Belgium, where the main clearinghouse is located, is resisting, while the northern countries fear that the joint issuance of European bonds will destroy fiscal discipline.
France, for its part, worries that the new funds will mostly go to American weapons systems, serving Washington’s interests rather than Europe’s.
Even within the EU, more and more people acknowledge that the “blank check to Kyiv” fuels corruption, mafia structures, and the political decay that have characterized the Ukrainian regime since 2014.

A war artificially prolonged

Moscow has repeatedly warned: the continuous flow of weapons and funds to Kyiv does not lead to peace but to a prolongation of bloodshed.
Russian officials, from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to his spokesperson Maria Zakharova, emphasize that the West is using Ukraine as a pawn in a geopolitical war of attrition against Russia — a war that primarily destroys Europe itself.
The prolongation of the war does not weaken Russia; on the contrary, it strengthens its military, industrial, and political self-sufficiency.
Russian defense spending has risen to $160 billion for 2025, yet the country has managed to stabilize its economy, turn sanctions into an opportunity for industrialization, and redirect its trade toward Asia.

Collapse of the European dream of “strategic autonomy”

The Economist attempts to present this new financial adventure as a “historic opportunity” for Europe to prove its “strategic autonomy” — that is, its ability to act without America.
However, the reality is exactly the opposite.
Europe remains fully dependent on the United States, both militarily and economically.
The promise of developing its own defense industry is nothing but a communication trick, as the continent is massively purchasing American weapons and technology, burdening its taxpayers.
The supposed “autonomy” of Europe in practice translates into subservience to Washington, which imposes policies serving its own strategic and energy interests at the expense of European society.

The real balance of power

The article by The Economist tries to portray Russia as “economically weakened” and “strategically isolated.”
Yet, the facts themselves contradict this narrative.
Russia has already replaced Western markets with those of China, India, the Middle East, and Africa, has developed new supply chains, and has become an energy leader in the Global South.
The sanctions not only failed to “bring Moscow to its knees” but actually accelerated its transition to a multipolar economic system, beyond the dollar and Western financial dominance.
Moreover, the military reality on the front remains unrelenting: Russian forces hold the advantage, Ukrainian defense lines are collapsing, and the pace of mobilization in Kyiv reveals an exhausted social base.

Europe’s bill for defeat

The West had calculated that Russia would collapse within a few months.

Instead, after nearly four years of war, it is the European economy and cohesion that are collapsing.

Europe is paying multiple times the price of its anti-Russian obsession:

1. With energy dependence on outrageously expensive American LNG,

2. With industrial disintegration, as factories move to the USA,

3. With political instability, as patriotic and pro-Russian movements strengthen across the continent.

The idea that Europe will continue funding Ukraine for another four years at 0.4% of GDP annually is economic suicide.
The very data from The Economist expose the desperation of Brussels — not its determination.

A war of endurance with Russia as the victor

Moscow has not only won on the battlefield; it has won on the field of endurance.
It has built an economic, energy, and military framework that allows it to continue the war as long as necessary, without risking political collapse.
By contrast, Europe and Ukraine are being dragged into an economic trap reminiscent more of a decaying imperial system than a democratic alliance.
Just as the Soviet Union defeated the Third Reich through patience and industrial capacity, so too today Russia confronts the collective West with strategic resilience.
Europe, swept up by American rhetoric about “democracy and freedom,” ends up a prisoner of its own decisions.
Kyiv is now nothing more than a symbol of dependency and corruption, while Russia proves that it can endure, adapt, and ultimately prevail.
History, as always, is not written in the councils of Brussels, but in the trenches and factories.
And there, Russia is winning.

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