Russia warns European arms factories supplying Ukraine are potential military targets as Kyiv struggles to fund the war

From the Newshound archive · first published 30 September 2026.

Moscow has threatened to strike weapons manufacturers across Europe that are supplying Ukraine, a sharp escalation in Russian rhetoric directed at NATO member states. Economy minister Oleksandr Kravchenko has revealed that air raid alerts cost Ukraine roughly $45 million an hour in lost economic activity when businesses are forced to shut. Russia is now targeting factories, warehouses, logistics networks and data centres in what Kravchenko described as an effort to "destroy practically the entire economy." At the same time, Kyiv is struggling to close a widening deficit as the financial toll of the war mounts.

Kravchenko, who joined Ukraine's government this summer after a career at McKinsey, warned: 'We didn't fully anticipate how quickly Russia would develop these jet-powered drones.'

A new two-tier alert system allows businesses to remain open during drone 'yellow' alerts — yet a drone still struck the National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv on Monday, killing two people at work.

European arms manufacturers are now explicitly in Moscow's crosshairs, raising the stakes for every NATO country backing Ukraine's war effort.