GENEVA –
One hundred days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war brought to the world an almost daily drumbeat of shocking scenes: civilian corpses on the streets of Bucha; explosive theater in Mariupol; the chaos at the Kramatorsk station after a Russian missile strike.
These images tell only part of the overall picture of Europe’s worst armed conflict in decades. Here is a look at some figures and statistics that – although on the move and sometimes uncertain – shed additional light on the death, destruction, displacement and economic chaos caused by the war as it reaches this stage without end.
THE HUMAN THREE
No one actually knows how many fighters or civilians have died, and allegations of casualties by government officials – who may sometimes exaggerate or underestimate their numbers for public relations reasons – are almost impossible to verify.
Government officials, UN agencies and others who carry out the grim task of counting the dead do not always have access to the places where people have been killed.
And Moscow released scarce information about casualties among its forces and allies and did not report civilian deaths in areas under its control. In some places – such as the long-besieged city of Mariupol, potentially the largest killing ground for the war – Russian forces have been accused of trying to cover up deaths and dumping bodies in mass graves, obscuring the common victims.
With all these warnings, “at least tens of thousands” of Ukrainian civilians have died so far, President Vladimir Zelensky said in a comment to the Luxembourg parliament on Thursday.
In Mariupol alone, authorities say more than 21,000 civilians have been killed. Sieverodonetsk, a city in the eastern Luhansk region that has become the focus of Russia’s offensive, has about 1,500 casualties, according to the mayor.
Such estimates include those killed by Russian strikes or troops, as well as those who have succumbed to side effects such as famine and disease as food supplies and health services have collapsed.
Zelensky said this week that 60 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers die in battle every day, with another 500 wounded.
Russia’s last public release of its own forces was on March 25, when the general told state media that 1,351 soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded.
Ukraine and Western observers say the actual number is much higher: Zelensky said on Thursday that more than 30,000 Russian servicemen had died – “more than the Soviet Union lost in 10 years since the war in Afghanistan”; in late April, the British government estimated Russia’s losses at 15,000.
Speaking on condition of anonymity on Wednesday to discuss intelligence, a Western official said Russia was “still taking victims, but … in smaller numbers.” The official estimated that about 40,000 Russian soldiers were wounded.
In Moscow-backed separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine, authorities reported more than 1,300 casualties 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 DESTRUCTION
Ruthless shelling, bombing and airstrikes have turned large stretches from many cities to ruins.
The Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights claims that the Russian military destroyed almost 38,000 residential buildings, leaving about 220,000 homeless.
Nearly 1,900 educational facilities from kindergartens to primary schools to universities have been damaged, including 180 completely destroyed.
Other infrastructure losses include 300 road and 50 railway bridges, 500 factories and about 500 damaged hospitals, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The World Health Organization has estimated 296 attacks on hospitals, ambulances and medical workers in Ukraine this year.
RUNNING HOME
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that some 6.8 million people have been expelled from Ukraine at some point during the conflict.
But after fighting in the area near Kyiv and elsewhere subsided and Russian forces were redeployed east and south, about 2.2 million have returned to the country, it said.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration estimates that as of May 23, there are more than 7.1 million internally displaced people – those who have fled their homes but remain in the country. That’s less than more than 8 million in earlier estimates.
THE EARTH WILL TAKE AWAY
Ukrainian authorities say that before the February invasion, Russia controlled about 7% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and areas held by separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk. On Thursday, Zelensky said Russian forces now hold 20% of the country.
While the front lines are constantly shifting, this amounts to an additional 58,000 square kilometers under Russian control, a total area slightly larger than Croatia or slightly smaller than the US state of West Virginia.
THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES IN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE …
The West has imposed retaliatory sanctions against Moscow, including on key oil and gas sectors, and Europe is beginning to turn away from its dependence on Russian energy.
Eugene Gontmacher, academic director of European Dialogue, wrote in a document this week that Russia currently faces more than 5,000 targeted sanctions, more than any other country. About $ 300 billion in Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves in the West have been frozen, he added, and air traffic in the country has fallen from 8.1 million to 5.2 million passengers between January and March.
In addition, the Kiev School of Economics reported that more than 1,000 “self-sanctioning” companies have restricted their operations in Russia.
Russia’s MOEX stock index has fallen by about a quarter since just before the invasion and has fallen by nearly 40 percent since the beginning of the year. And Russia’s central bank said last week that annual inflation reached 17.8 percent in April.
Ukraine, meanwhile, says it is undergoing a stunning economic blow: 35% of GDP has been destroyed by the war.
“Our direct losses today exceed $ 600 billion,” said Andrei Ermak, Zelenski’s chief of staff, recently.
Ukraine, a major farmer, says it is unable to export about 22m tonnes of grain. He blames Russian blockades or the seizure of key ports for delaying shipments. Zelensky accused Russia this week of stealing at least half a million tons of grain during the invasion.
… AND THE WORLD
The effects spread around the world, further increasing the cost of basic commodities amid inflation, which was already in full swing in many places before the invasion.
Crude oil prices in London and New York rose 20 to 25 percent, leading to higher prices for the pump and a number of petroleum products.
Developing countries are under particular pressure from higher food, fuel and financing costs, according to economist Richard Kozul-Wright of the UN Conference on Trade and Development
Wheat supplies were cut off in African countries, which imported 44% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine in the years immediately before the invasion. The African Development Bank has reported a 45% increase in continental grain prices, which affects everything from Moorish couscous to fried donuts sold in the Congo.
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Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine.
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