<p >The world’s largest asset manager the American multinational investment fund Blackrock has ceased to look for investors to finance the Ukraine recovery fund, which commentators have noted reflects the growing uncertainty in the Western world regarding the Eastern European country’s future. The fund had in 2024 been close to receiving support from organisations supervised by the authorities of Germany, Poland and Italy, before BlackRock in January suspended negotiations with investors due to a lack of interest. The possibility of a total collapse of the Ukrainian economy is widely assessed to have grown, with the Washington Post on June 26 observing that “positive impact on the economy” in 2025 “is no longer being considered.” The failure of an expected ceasefire to materialise by the middle of the year has raised the possibility that continued large scale Western economic aid will not be sufficient to sustain the economy.&nbsp;</p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/07/05/article_686936ef6d2786_62335404.jpg" title="German Supplied Leopard 2A6 Tank Destroyed in Kursk in September 2024"></p><p >The viability of the Ukrainian economy even with tremendous aid has continued to mount as key resource reserves have <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/advancing-russian-forces-large-lithium-deposits-ukraine">continued to fall</a> under Russian control, with Russian Army units’ capture of one of the largest lithium deposits in Europe near the village of Shevchenko in the final week of June being a notable example. The Pentagon’s pausing of some military aid to Ukraine on July 2, and turning back of many high value armaments that had already arrived in Poland for delivery, further contributed to uncertainty. The course of the war effort has increasingly appeared to be highly unfavourable for Western interests, with Russia’s defence sector having increasingly surpassed Western expectations in the production of a wide range of asset types ranging from <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russian-doubled-su34-production">fighter planes</a> to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-expanded-production-iskander-sustain">ballistic missiles</a> and <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/returning-tank-production-soviet-era-levels-russia-over-3000">main battle tanks</a>, while <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-details-nkorea-role-repelling-kursk">North Korean personnel</a>, <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/25000-nkorean-industrial-workers-russia-drone-production">industrial workers</a> and vast quantities of equipment have played an increasingly central role in shaping the course of the conflict in Moscow’s favour.&nbsp;</p><p >The routing of Ukrainian forces in Kursk in April, &nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukrainian-80-90-casualty-conscripts" >extreme losses</a>&nbsp;suffered by Ukrainian conscript units, and the severe depletion of elite units and many higher end equipment types such as <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/combat-losses-wont-give-ukraine-patriot-free" target="_blank">Patriot missile systems</a>, have been among the other contributing factors, with one other consequence being the fuelling of calls in neighbouring Poland to urgently <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-defeat-posture-polish-chief" target="_blank">prepare for a future</a> in which all of Ukrainian territory is under Russian control.&nbsp;</p>