The ongoing crises caused by external factors (the Covid-19 pandemic and, since February 2022, Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine) have increased economic instability, exacerbated problems in the system of state and local finance, which, in turn, has negatively affected the financial stability of the regions and, consequently, their economic growth opportunities. Therefore, there is a need to develop new approaches to the formation of state regional policy with a clear set of mechanisms and measures for each type of territory. The purpose of the article is to analyse and evaluate financial changes in the regions of Ukraine in the context of instability and to outline the directions of their further development. The article assesses financial changes in the regions of Ukraine in the context of the intensification of crisis phenomena (pandemic and Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine). The following trends have been identified: a decrease in the share of local budget revenues in consolidated budget revenues; a decrease in the growth rate of local budget revenues in regions where intense hostilities are taking place; a change in the structure of local budget revenues, and hence a decrease in revenues from certain traditional budget-forming taxes; a noticeable increase in expenditures by sector. It is shown that the war in Ukraine has increased the unevenness of the formation of the tax capacity of administrative-territorial units, and the expenditure component of local budgets is characterised by a significant reduction in development expenditures. The author emphasises the need to improve the mechanisms of budgetary equalisation of territories. It is argued that the main vector of the policy of ensuring the financial sustainability of the regions of Ukraine should be balancing the needs of using external financial resources to restore stable growth rates and reduce the external financial dependence of the economic system in the face of macroeconomic shocks.