Marchenko made the comments in an interview with Euronews published on Sept. 4.
The ministry is currently drafting the 2027 budget based on the assumption that the war will continue through the next year. Ukraine needs to cover a funding gap of $32.6 billion, Marchenko said. He added that IMF officials who visited Kyiv this week have arrived at similar conclusions.
“We are already seeing some liquidity problems and anticipate a certain deficit in our budget,” the minister said.
“This means that because of a lack of liquidity, we may have to postpone some expenditures unrelated to the war.”
Asked whether this could affect sovereign debt servicing, Marchenko said it would not.
However, he said the consequences could be felt at the local level, particularly in the construction of shelters and infrastructure. Those projects “remain important,” he said, as Ukraine prepares for another winter during which Russia is expected to launch further attacks.
Marchenko urged EU official to take a creative approach to finding solutions and consider a new Ukrainian plan to use approximately $300 billion in frozen Russian assets. The European Union rejected a similar proposal in December 2025 in favor of jointly financing a EUR90 billion loan program (approximately $105 billion).
A new plan the minister favors would change responsibility for the assets, which are currently held in Belgium, he said. It would also introduce new measures to reduce legal risks for the Belgian government and Euroclear, the securities depository that holds the assets.
“We want to discuss this. The plan creates new conditions
under which responsibility for legal disputes with Russia would not fall on
Belgium but would be shared by all 27 countries,” Marchenko said.