News Desk
ISLAMABAD: By ordering the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin started a war that has killed tens of thousands of people, ravaged cities, and battered the country’s economy.
As the conflict nears its first anniversary, here is an analysis of what it has cost so far in terms of loss of life, infrastructure, and human rights violation:
According to the latest estimates from Norway, as many as 180,000 Russian soldiers and 100,000 Ukrainian troops have so far been killed in the war.
Meanwhile, other Western sources estimate the conflict has caused 150,000 casualties on each side in comparison, some 15,000 Soviet soldiers lost their lives in a whole decade of fighting in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.
Ukrainian soldiers often use the term “cannon fodder” to describe the Russians sent to die along the frontline, who are primarily poorly trained conscripts who don’t stand much of a chance against Ukrainian forces determined to defend their country.
Meanwhile, others are convicts recruited in Russian jails to swell the numbers of Russian paramilitary group Wagner, whom Kyiv and its allies have said are sent on near-impossible missions with the equivalent of a gun pointed to their head.
The war has also taken its toll on the Ukrainians, as shown by the endless blue and yellow national flags fluttering above cemeteries across the country.
When Kremlin’s forces seized control of Mariupol in late May after three months of heavy shelling, the southern port city had been reduced to a sea of building rubble strewn with dead bodies.
30,000-40,000 died so far in the conflict: reports
In total, some 30,000 to 40,000 civilians have been killed lives nationwide in the battle, according to Western sources.
In late January, the United Nations said that 18,000 civilians had died or were injured in the fighting, but the actual figure was likely much higher.
Kyiv says at least 400 children were also among those killed.
The United Nations says most civilians were killed during the Russian bombardment.
Landmines will also be a massive threat to civilians in the long run.
Kyiv says 30 percent of Ukrainian territory has been contaminated, while Human Rights Watch accused Ukrainian forces of planting banned anti-personnel landmines in the eastern region of Izyum.
Experts warn it could take decades to demine the area.
Around 65,000 suspected war crimes have been reported during the war, the European Union’s justice commissioner Didier Reynders says.
UN investigators have accused Moscow of committing war crimes on a “massive scale” in Ukraine, including bombings, executions, torture, and horrific sexual violence.
Kyiv accused Moscow of forcibly deporting more than 16,000 children to Russia or areas controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
Meanwhile, several NGOs have condemned Ukraine for violating the rights of Russian prisoners of war, but on a much smaller scale.
According to figures from the US-based Institute for the Study of War, almost a fifth of Ukraine is under the occupation of Russia.
But the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine says Ukrainian forces have regained some 40 per cent of territory occupied after the invasion last year.
Russia has repeatedly targeted critical energy infrastructure across Ukraine in recent months, causing blackouts and leaving millions without heating amid freezing temperatures.
The World Bank in October projected the country’s economy to contract by 35 percent in 2022.
In January, it would cost $138 billion to replace all war-ravaged infrastructure, the Kyiv School of Economics.
The war has caused over $34 billion in economic losses in the agricultural sector in the country famed for its cereal and sunflower oil exports.
According to the UN cultural fund, some 3,000 schools and 239 cultural sites have been affected by the fighting.
Rebuilding Ukarine to cost around $349bn after Russain invasion
Rebuilding Ukraine following the Russian invasion is estimated to cost $349 billion, a joint assessment by the Ukrainian government, the European Commission, and the World Bank found in September.
More than eight million Ukrainians have been forced to flee the country since the onslaught began, the UN refugee agency says, the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
Neighbouring Poland hosts the largest share of war refugees, with more than 1.5 million of them. While over five million people have been displaced within the country. Moscow says another five million people have sought refuge in Russia, though Kyiv has alleged that Russia conducted “forced evacuations”.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Kyiv’s military mostly had outdated, Soviet-era military equipment to defend themselves.
The war is still ongoing, with the two countries battling for Bakhmut. Russia has been gaining ground on the battlefield as Ukraine calls for more weapons assistance from Western partners.
Finding a solution to the conflict which has caused widespread global uncertainty has become imminent for the international community to avoid further chaos.
