One Hundred Days of War in Ukraine: Pictures, Numbers and Facts

One hundred days after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the war has thrown the world into an almost daily battery heartbreaking scenes: civilian corpses in the streets of Bucha, the bombing of a theater in Mariupol or the chaos in a train station in Kramatorsk after a missile attack in Moscow.

These images barely matter. part of the big picture from worst conflict armed Europe in decades. Here are a few figures and statistics which, while fluctuating and sometimes uncertain, shed more light on the death, destruction, displacement and economic consequences of war than They have no sign of an end.

The human cost

No one really knows how many fighters or civilians were killed, and the figures offered by government officials – which are sometimes exaggerated or underestimated for reasons of public perception – are nearly impossible to verify.

Officials, UN agencies and other bodies charged with the grim task of counting deaths they don’t always have access in the places where there were dead.

Moscow has made public limited information about the casualties among its ranks and those of its allies, but it does not provide a civilian casualty count in the areas it controls.

In some places, such as Mariupol, a city besieged for months that could see the highest death toll from the war, Kremlin forces have been accused of try to cover yourself the deaths and throw the corpses into mass gravesthat tarnishes the budget.

With all these considerations, “at least tens of thousands ” of civilians The Ukrainians have been dead so far, the country’s president, Volodimir Zelensky, said in a speech in the Luxembourg parliament on Thursday.

In Mariupol alone, the authorities reported the deaths of over 21,000 civilians. In Severodonetsk, a city in the eastern Luhansk region that has become the last epicenter of the Russian offensiveAbout 1,500 deaths have been recorded, its mayor said.

These estimates include both those who were killed by Russian attacks or soldiers and those who succumbed to side effects such as famine and diseasedue to the collapse of food distribution and health services.

Zelensky said this week that his country was losing between 60 and 100 soldiers in combat every day and that nearly 500 others were wounded.

The latest official data published by Russia dates back to March 25when a general told state media that 1,351 soldiers had been killed and another 3,825 wounded.

Ukrainian and Western observers have noticed this the real figure is much higherZelensky said Thursday that more than 30,000 soldiers died on the Russian side, “more than the Soviet Union lost in 10 years of war in Afghanistan.” At the end of April, the British government estimated the Russian casualties to be 15,000 soldiers.

Russia “continues to report casualties, but … in fewer numbers,” said a Western official who spoke on intelligence matters on condition of anonymity on Wednesday. Furthermore, he estimated that around 40,000 Russian soldiers were wounded in combat.

In the Moscow-backed separatist enclaves of eastern Ukraine, Donetsk authorities reported the deaths of over 1,300 fighters, with nearly 7,500 wounded, as well as 477 civilians killed and another 2,400 wounded. In Luhansk, 29 civilians were killed and another 60 injured.

the devastation

The incessant bombing and air raids large areas have been reduced to rubble of many Ukrainian towns and cities.

The Human Rights Commission of the Ukrainian Parliament said that the Russian army destroyed 38,000 residential buildingswho has left some 220,000 homeless.

Nearly 1,900 educational centers, from kindergarten to elementary school or universities, suffered damage and 180 of them were totally uninhabitable.

Among the lost infrastructure there 300 bridges for cars and 50 for trains; 500 factories and almost 500 hospitals damaged, according to the Ukrainian authorities.

The World Health Organization has registered 296 attacks on hospitals, ambulances or medical personnel in Ukraine so far this year.

run away from home

The United Nations human rights agency, UNHCR, estimates that some 6.8 million people were forced to leave the country at some point during the conflict.

But since the end of the fighting around the capital, in Kiev and other areas, and after the movement of Russian troops to the east and south, about 2.2 million people returned to the country, he added.

The International Organization for Migration, another UN agency, estimates that as of May 23 there were more than 7.1 million internally displaced persons, that is, they fled their homes but not the country. An earlier tally brought the figure to over 8 million.

conquered territories

According to Ukrainian authorities, before the February invasion, Russia controlled about 7% of the neighboring country’s territory, including the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Ukraine. . Luhansk. On Thursday, Zelensky made it clear Russian forces now hold 20% of the nation.

Although the front lines are constantly changing, this means that the Kremlin now controls some of them 58,000 square kilometers furthermore, an area slightly larger than Croatia and slightly larger than Jujuy province.

The economic consequences

The West has responded to the Russian offensive with a series of sanctions, including in key areas such as gas and oiland Europe is beginning to wean itself from its energy dependence on Moscow.

Evgeny Gontmakher, academic director of the European Dialogue, said in an article this week that Russia is currently facing more than 5,000 selective sanctionsmore than any other country in the world.

They froze around 300 billion dollars in Russian gold and foreign exchange reserves in the West, he added, noting that the country’s air traffic it went from 8.1 to 5.2 million of passengers between January and March.

The Kyiv School of Economics reported that more than 1,000 “self-licensed” companies have downsized their operations in Russia.

The Russian stock index, the MOEX, lost nearly a quarter of its value just before the invasion and about 40% since the beginning of the year. And last week the Russian Central Bank said year-on-year inflation hit 17.8% in April.

For its part, Ukraine reported a serious economic setback: the war has taken 35% of its gross domestic product.

“Our direct losses today exceed $ 600,000 million,” recently assured Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky’s office.

The country, which is one of the largest agricultural producers in the worldsays it hasn’t been able to export around 22 million tons of wheat. Blame the delay in shipments to Russian blockades or the capture of key ports. This week, Zelensky accused the Kremlin of steal at least half a million tons of wheat during the invasion.

In the rest of the world

The repercussions of the conflict were felt all over the world: the price of commodities rose and inflation, which in some places had already risen before the invasion, has skyrocketed.

The price of crude oil in London and New York has risen by between 20 and 25%, which has pushed up the price consumers pay for fuel and a number of petroleum products.

Developing countries are seeing particularly impressed by the increase in food, fuel and finance, according to economist Richard Kozul-Wright of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

The supply of grain it was interrupted in African nations, which in the years preceding the conflict imported 44% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine.

The African Development Bank reported a 45% increase in the continental price of wheat, which affected everything from couscous in Mauritania to fried donuts sold in Congo.

Associated Press

Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine.

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