Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Larry Elliott and Phillip Inman

As Ukraine’s economy burns, Russia clings to a semblance of prosperity

A woman chopping up watermelon and serving it to a queue of customers in a shopping centre plaza, in front of a fountain whose basin is full of melons
A watermelon stall does brisk business at a shopping centre in Moscow last summer. Photograph: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images

Factories destroyed. Roads blown to pieces. Power plants put out of action. Steel exports decimated. A flood of refugees out of the country. Ukraine – the poorest country in Europe – has paid a heavy economic price for a two-year war against Russia waged almost entirely on its own soil.

The figures are stark. More than 7 million people – about a fifth of the population – have been plunged into poverty. Fifteen years of human development have been lost. In the first year of the war, the economy contracted by 30%.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.