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08-07-2023
KYIV: Five-hundred days ago, in the early hours of a cold February morning, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its western neighbor, Ukraine.
The Kremlin had hoped for a quick “special military operation” but 16-and-a-half months later, fighting is still raging with no immediate end in sight.
As the war reaches another grim milestone on Saturday, here are just some of the sombre ways it has upended life for tens of millions of people;
6.3 million Ukrainians have become refugees, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR).
9,083 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, according to the latest figures from the UN’s rights office (OHCHR); the real toll, however, is feared to be much higher.
15,779 civilians have been wounded in Ukraine, according to the OHCHR.
Military casualties on both sides of the war are difficult to establish and verify; the warring sides often estimate rival losses, and are understood to downplay their own
The cost of destruction is thought to be more than $143bn, according to the latest findings from the Kyiv School of Economics.
It is estimated that Russia controls less than 20 percent of Ukrainian territory.
The conflict has led to the fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II, with 6.3 million people forced to flee Ukraine since the invasion on February 24, 2022. The vast majority of them 5,967,100 went to other European countries.
An additional six million are internally displaced within Ukraine.
Most refugees are women and children, as Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60 have been instructed to remain in the country and fight.
The infographic below highlights the flow of refugees recorded from Ukraine across Europe between June 1, 2022 and July 7, 2023, as well as some of the painful stories of those forced to leave their homes.
Among those who fled in the early days of the war was a young boy called Mark Goncharuk. Battling back his tears, he said, “We left dad in Kyiv. And dad will be selling things and helping our heroes, helping our army. He might even fight.”
The countries with the largest refugee populations are Russia, with 1,275,315; Germany, with 1,076,680; Poland, with 999,690; the Czech Republic, with 350,455; and the United Kingdom, with 206,700. (Int’l News Desk)
