Ukraine's economy loses $22-$44 mln per hour during air raid downtime — minister

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Ukraine's economy faces heavy strain, losing between 1 billion and 2 billion hryvnias ($22.25 million to $44.5 million) for every hour of downtime caused by air raid alerts, Economy and Environment Minister Alexander Kravchenko has said.

"According to Ministry of Economy estimates, the economy loses between 1 billion and 2 billion hryvnias for every hour of downtime," the RBC-Ukraine news agency quoted Kravchenko as saying.

The minister noted that there are days when alerts last for over 20 hours, adding that during the final week of August, the country racked up more than 58 hours of air raid warnings.

"We are talking about staggering losses for the economy. It is already under significant pressure due to export blockades, as well as disruptions to logistics routes and transport companies," Kravchenko pointed out.