How much Russia spends on the war: daily costs and total spending since 2022
One day of Russian military spending costs approximately $475 million. A week comes to around $3.3 billion. A month amounts to roughly $14 billion. This is the spending rate used in Demilitarizator’s calculation for 2026.
Russia’s residents receive the bill for the war every day: for missiles and drones, fuel, military contracts, equipment repairs and army supplies. Payments to the wounded and the families of those killed add to the cost. Some of these commitments will remain for years after the fighting ends.
Demilitarizator’s baseline estimate puts military and related government spending since the full-scale invasion at approximately $675 billion. Add lost oil revenues and immobilised reserves, and the combined economic figure reaches around $1.175 trillion.
What lies behind these amounts, where does the money come from, and how is military spending changing life in Russia itself?
How much does one day of war cost Russia?
Demilitarizator’s budget model puts Russian military spending at approximately $475 million a day. That works out to around $19.8 million an hour, $330,000 a minute or $5,500 a second.
Government money reaches companies and military units in large payments: for a batch of ammunition, a completed contract, repairs or fuel deliveries.
There is another important point: an army needs continuous funding. It consumes resources during offensives, defensive operations, regrouping and the training of new units. Even when the front line barely moves, military costs keep accumulating.
How the war reshaped Russia’s budget
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, military expenditure in the final version of Russia’s 2025 budget amounted to almost 16 trillion roubles. That was approximately 7.5% of GDP and 38% of all planned government spending.
Almost four out of every ten budget roubles were earmarked for the military.
Military funding has long extended beyond a single budget chapter. The armed forces receive money through different spending categories, including some social payments. Russia’s regions also face a substantial financial burden, paying military recruitment bonuses and compensation.
SIPRI’s analysis found that in 2025 Russian regions allocated approximately 500 billion roubles for military contract sign-up payments and another 500 billion for the wounded and the families of those killed. The institute treats these amounts separately from federal military expenditure.
For 2026, SIPRI estimated planned Russian military spending at 14.9 trillion roubles, or 6.3% of GDP. The institute published that assessment in March 2026.
Oil: the revenue Russia missed out on
Alongside government expenditure comes another bill: lost income.
KSE Institute estimated that Russia missed out on approximately $199.6 billion in oil export revenues between March 2022 and June 2026. The research containing this estimate was published on 3 August 2026.
For the oil industry, extracting crude is only the beginning. It must also be processed, transported and sold. Problems at any of these stages affect earnings.
Ukrainian strikes on refineries target the processing stage. When a unit stops, production time is lost, repairs cost money and delivery plans have to change.
KSE linked the decline in Russian petroleum product exports in June 2026 to strikes on refineries. Russia increased crude oil sales while cutting exports of refined products. This shows how damage to industry changes trade patterns. The overall estimate of lost revenues also includes the effects of prices and trade restrictions.
Around $300 billion in reserves under restrictions
The economic cost of the invasion also includes sovereign reserves that Russia can no longer freely access.
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee cited an estimate of approximately $300 billion in Russian assets frozen in the West. The Council of the EU explains that the reserves were immobilised under restrictions introduced after the full-scale invasion.
Reserves are a country’s financial cushion for difficult times. Their immobilisation deprived the Kremlin of the ability to freely use a substantial share of its accumulated resources.
Demilitarizator’s calculation includes this money separately as immobilised assets. Their economic role differs from money already spent from the budget.
Why the total economic cost exceeds $1 trillion
Demilitarizator’s combined figure has three components:
| Component | Estimated amount |
|---|---|
| Military and related government spending | $675 billion |
| Lost oil revenues | $199.6 billion |
| Immobilised sovereign reserves | $300 billion |
| Total | ≈$1.175 trillion |
The total therefore shows the scale of resources spent, revenues forgone and assets made inaccessible. It offers a broader view of the invasion’s economic cost.
How civilians pay for the war
Budget priorities are felt far from the front line. Money directed towards military needs leaves less room to fund civilian ones.
According to SIPRI’s analysis, the civilian part of Russia’s “Social policy” budget chapter in 2026 amounted to roughly two thirds of its 2020 level after adjusting for inflation. At the same time, the military component of that chapter was growing.
This is why increases in nominal budget amounts do not necessarily mean that people receive more support. Higher prices absorb part of the increase; war-related costs take another share.
For citizens, the government’s choice has a practical meaning. Housing, hospitals, schools, water mains and district heating networks all need money, workers and materials. The military machine competes for the same resources.
The full-scale invasion has already absorbed hundreds of billions of dollars in public money. It has brought additional revenue losses and immobilised reserves. Each further year creates new commitments that will have to be paid even after the fighting ends.
The war carries a daily price. Russian society will keep paying it long after the next budget cycle is over.