“The Ukraine has asked its foreign creditors to defer the payment of all foreign debts for 24 months.”
“As a result of this request, we believe a default on foreign currency sovereign debt is almost certain,” the rating agency added.
A group of Western creditors, including France, the USA, Germany, Japan and the UK, agreed on July 20 to defer interest payments on Ukrainian debt, at the request of Kyiv, appealing to other Ukrainian bondholders to do the same. .
S&P already downgraded Ukraine on May 27 to CCC+, with a negative outlook as well, due to the “increasing consequences of a Russian military offensive,” and then stated that it expects “the continuation of the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict.”
Russia launched a military attack on Ukraine on February 24 that killed more than 5,100 civilians, according to the United Nations, which warns that the real number is likely to be much higher.
The Russian military offensive has caused more than 16 million people to flee, more than 5.9 million of whom have fled the country, according to the latest United Nations figures.
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