The Americans have stopped estimating the number of Russian casualties on the Ukrainian battlefield. The Pentagon’s latest estimate was over 7,000 Russians dead, but that was after nearly a month of fighting. The British Ministry of Defense estimates about 15,000 dead. Only that was also a dated figure, from more than a month ago.
Ukraine, which reports the Russian losses daily on Twitter, comes to a significantly higher number. By Thursday, the number of Russian losses would have risen to 30,850. Every day, according to Kyiv, 150 to 200 Russians die in the battle. The Ukrainian army arrives at this high number on the basis, among other things, of the bodies that are recovered and of wiretapped communications. Independent sources have not confirmed the death toll.
“Does this huge number make us happy?” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry tweeted. “No, this shouldn’t have happened. But as long as there is even one enemy soldier on our territory, we will be unhappy. No matter how many zeros are added to this appalling statistic.”
‘Syria scenario’ threatens
Kyiv is less open-mouthed about the Ukrainian losses. President Volodymyr Zelensky said in mid-April that some 3,000 were killed, but experts say that number was far too low. This week, Zelensky acknowledged that his army is facing significant casualties: some 60 to 100 soldiers a day as well as some 500 wounded. “The situation is very difficult,” said the president about, among other things, the bloody battle in the Donbas.
Because the end of the war is far from in sight, there will be no end to human suffering and destruction in Ukraine. Every day as the war continues, homes, factories, schools, roads, stations and other pieces of infrastructure are damaged or destroyed. There is a danger of a ‘Syria scenario’, especially now that neither Moscow nor Kyiv see anything in negotiations in the short term.
Before they sit down at the negotiating table, it is expected, both countries will try to gain as much ground as possible. Russia hopes for a strong negotiating position after the conquest of the Donbas. Ukraine, in turn, encouraged on Wednesday by the new military support from the US and the British, wants to inflict as much damage as possible on the Russian army.
“We have to prepare ourselves that this will take a long time,” said British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who anticipates a war of attrition of five to ten years.
Huge amounts
It is to be hoped that the Syria scenario does not materialize for Ukraine. The Kyiv School of Economics estimated at the beginning of May that the war has damaged the country between USD 564 and 600 billion. The cost of the destroyed and damaged infrastructure alone was then estimated at $92 billion. At the end of May, that had already risen to 105 billion dollars (more than 97 billion euros).
The researchers arrived at this conclusion on the basis of reports from citizens and the government about everything that was under fire by the Russians. The economic decline and the loss of investments are also included. Under the heading ‘Russia has to pay it’, the population is called upon to report every damage item.
“As our military defends the borders of Ukraine and our communities, our job is to provide the most complete list of everything that has been destroyed and continues to be destroyed,” the researchers said on a dedicated website. The list will be used in international lawsuits that Kyiv is preparing against the Kremlin.
Destruction is fast
The damage is enormous: 227 factories and companies destroyed, damaged or seized by the Russians, as well as 643 hospitals and other health care facilities, 1,123 schools, almost 24 thousand kilometers of roads, 621 nurseries, 192 cultural buildings, 104 thousand cars, 295 bridges and 115 churches and other religious buildings.
To indicate how fast the destruction is: in one week, 8 billion dollars in damage was caused to civil and military infrastructure. The numbers mentioned have since become even larger, because this was the state of affairs at the end of May. Since then, the Russian army has once again shot to pieces an entire city, Severodonetsk. About 90 percent of the buildings in this city in the Donbas have been damaged, according to the governor of Luhansk.
In total, some 44 million square meters of living space have been destroyed or damaged in five cities, including Mariupol and Kharkiv. Two other cities are in danger of becoming uninhabitable soon. After the capture of Severodonetsk, Kramatorsk and Slovjansk, the Russians want to harass heavily.
If it is up to a group of European countries, the $300 billion that the Russian Central Bank has outstanding abroad will be confiscated and given to Kyiv. The money is to be used for the reconstruction of Ukrainian cities. “The aggressor must be held accountable for his actions and pay for the damage caused,” the Baltic states and Slovakia said in an appeal to the EU.
Civilian deaths
It is still unclear how many Ukrainian civilians have been killed in 100 days. The UN’s official death toll stands at 4,149. “The real death toll is considerably higher,” said the UN Human Rights Commission. At least 22,000 people are said to have been killed in Mariupol alone, which once had a population of 400,000, according to an adviser to the mayor. The city government expects the death toll to be much higher.
The bodies of about 1,300 victims have been found in and around Boetsja, including in mass graves. Every day on Telegram, thousands of people search countless photos of graves and lists of victims’ names, posted by officials and strangers, in hopes of finding the body of a dead relative.
For example, a photo shows the name of a victim, written in paint on the front door of an apartment. The day of death is also stated. A helpful local resident probably wanted to help the apartment occupant’s family.
