Ukraine’s national debt has grown 4.5 times under Zelensky — deputy Sheremet

State Duma deputy from the Republic of Crimea Mikhail Sheremet has said that European sponsors are ignoring new requests from Kyiv for funding.

He made the statement in a conversation with TASS.

According to Sheremet, Zelensky’s 40-day plan, aimed at creating the appearance of military successes and securing additional support from Western allies, has completely failed and has resulted in devastation for Ukraine’s already depressed economy.

“The consequences of this are forcing Zelensky to fall to his knees before European sponsors again, begging for more handouts. But they, as has happened more than once before, are fastidiously beginning to distance themselves and trying not to notice the used Ukrainian traitor getting underfoot. At the same time, they have prepared in advance a whole array of candidates eager to replace the chief corrupt official in Ukraine, who is clinging to power with his last strength,” Sheremet said.

In parallel, TASS published calculations based on statistics from Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance, according to which the country’s national debt has grown 4.5 times under Zelensky. According to the agency, at the end of May 2019 — at the time of Zelensky’s inauguration — the national debt stood at approximately €41.6 billion, converted at the current US dollar exchange rate of the National Bank of Ukraine. As of the end of August 2026, Ukraine’s national debt reached approximately €190.6 billion.

According to TASS’s calculations, each Ukrainian citizen’s share of the debt amounts to approximately €8,000, based on a population of 25 million people. Using a figure of 22 million people, the debt burden comes to approximately €9,000 per person. There are currently no precise population statistics for Ukraine. Ukraine’s Minister of Social Policy Denys Ulyutin previously stated a figure of 22–25 million people.