GENEVA –
One hundred days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war has brought to the world an almost daily drum beat of stressful scenes: corpses of civilians in the streets of Bucha; a stolen theater in Mariupol; chaos at a Kramatorsk train station following a Russian missile attack.
These images explain only part of the overall picture of Europe’s worst armed conflict in decades. Here’s a look at some of the figures and statistics that, while moving and sometimes uncertain, shed more light on the death, destruction, displacement, and economic devastation caused by the war as it reaches its peak. landmark with no end in sight.
THE HUMAN TOLL
No one really knows how many fighters or civilians have died, and the claims of victims by government officials, who may sometimes be exaggerating or lowering their numbers for public relations reasons, are almost impossible to verify.
Government officials, United Nations agencies and others who carry out the sad task of counting the dead do not always have access to the places where people were killed.
And Moscow has released little information on casualties among its forces and allies, and has reported no deaths of civilians in areas under its control. In some places, such as the long-besieged city of Mariupol, potentially the largest assassination camp in the war, Russian forces are accused of trying to cover up dead bodies and dump bodies in mass graves, clouding the global toll. .
With all these warnings, “at least tens of thousands” of Ukrainian civilians have died so far, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in comments to the Luxembourg parliament on Thursday.
In Mariupol alone, officials have reported more than 21,000 civilian deaths. Sievierodonetsk, a city in the eastern Luhansk region that has become the focus of Russia’s offensive, has seen about 1,500 casualties, according to the mayor.
These estimates include both those killed by attacks or Russian troops and those who succumbed to side effects such as famine and disease as food supplies and health services collapsed.
Zelenskyy said this week that between 60 and 100 Ukrainian soldiers die in combat every day, with about 500 more wounded.
Russia’s latest published figures for its own forces were on March 25, when a general told state media that 1,351 soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded.
Ukraine and Western observers say the actual figure is much higher: Zelenskyy said on Thursday that more than 30,000 Russian soldiers had died, “more than the Soviet Union lost in 10 years of war in Afghanistan”; by the end of April, the British government estimated Russian losses at 15,000.
Speaking on condition of anonymity on Wednesday to discuss intelligence issues, a Western official said Russia “still has casualties, but … in smaller numbers.” The official estimates that about 40,000 Russian soldiers have been wounded.
In the Moscow-backed separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine, authorities have reported the loss of more than 1,300 fighters and nearly 7,500 wounded in the Donetsk region, along with 477 civilians killed and nearly 2,400 wounded; plus 29 civilians killed and 60 wounded in Luhansk.
THE DEVASTATION
Relentless bombing, bombing and airstrikes have reduced large areas of many cities and towns to rubble.
Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commission says the Russian military has destroyed nearly 38,000 residential buildings, leaving some 220,000 homeless.
Nearly 1,900 educational facilities, from kindergartens to primary schools and universities, have been damaged, including 180 completely ruined.
Other infrastructure losses include 300 cars and 50 railway bridges, 500 factories and about 500 damaged hospitals, according to Ukrainian officials.
The World Health Organization has recorded 296 attacks on hospitals, ambulances and medical workers in Ukraine this year.
RUNNING FROM HOME
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that some 6.8 million people have been deported from Ukraine at some point in the conflict.
But since fighting waned in the area near Kyiv and elsewhere, and Russian forces have been deployed east and south, some 2.2 million have returned to the country, he says.
The UN International Organization for Migration estimates that on May 23 there were more than 7.1 million internally displaced persons, that is, those who fled their homes but remain in the country. This is less than the 8 million from a previous count.
CONCASTED LAND
Ukrainian officials say that before the February invasion, Russia controlled about 7% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and the separatist areas in Donetsk and Luhansk. On Thursday, Zelenskyy said Russian forces now occupied 20% of the country.
Although the front lines are constantly changing, this represents an additional 58,000 square miles under Russian control, a slightly larger total area than Croatia or slightly smaller than the US state of West Virginia.
THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES IN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE …
The West has imposed a series of retaliatory sanctions against Moscow, including the crucial oil and gas sectors, and Europe is beginning to get rid of its dependence on Russian energy.
Evgeny Gontmakher, academic director of European Dialogue, wrote in a paper this week that Russia currently faces more than 5,000 selective sanctions, more than any other country. Some $ 300 billion in Russian gold and foreign exchange reserves in the West have been frozen, he added, and air traffic in the country fell from 8.1 million to 5.2 million passengers between January and March.
In addition, the Kyiv School of Economics reported that more than 1,000 “self-sanctioned” companies have reduced their operations in Russia.
Russia’s MOEX stock index has plummeted about a quarter since shortly before the invasion and has fallen nearly 40 percent since the beginning of the year. And the Central Bank of Russia said last week that annualized inflation reached 17.8 percent in April.
Ukraine, for its part, has reportedly suffered a shocking economic blow: 35% of GDP ended the war.
“Our direct losses today exceed $ 600 billion,” said Andriy Yermak, head of Zelenskyy’s office, recently.
Ukraine, a major agricultural producer, says it has failed to export about 22 million tonnes of grain. Accuses delayed shipments of Russian blockades or capture of key ports. Zelenskyy accused Russia this week of stealing at least half a million tonnes of grain during the invasion.
… AND THE WORLD
The consequences have increased around the world, further increasing the costs of basic goods in addition to the inflation that was already in full swing in many places before the invasion.
Crude oil prices in London and New York have risen by 20 to 25 per cent, leading to higher prices at the pump and for a variety of petroleum products.
According to economist Richard Kozul-Wright of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, developing countries are especially constrained by rising food, fuel and financing costs.
Wheat supply has been disrupted in African nations, which imported 44% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine in the years immediately preceding the invasion. The African Development Bank has reported a 45% increase in continental grain prices, affecting everything from Mauritanian couscous to fried donuts sold in the Congo.
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Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine
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