In numbers, we explain what is happening as a result of Russia's war against Ukraine in the fields of education, food and environmental security, culture and media. The article was first published on Share the Truth.
Casualties
As of April 18, 22904 civilian casualties were recorded as a result of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, including 8534 killed and 14370 injured according to UN OHCHR. OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations with intense hostilities has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration. This concerns, for example, Mariupol (Donetsk region), Lysychansk, Popasna, and Severodonetsk (Luhansk region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties. Since the start of the war, more than 1419 children have been injured or killed by Russian armed activities. 470 children were killed due to military activities, more than 949 children were injured mostly due to shelling and airstrikes.
Forced migration
8 174 189 individual Ukrainian refugees were recorded across Europe as of April 18. Compared with January 2023, the number of decisions granting temporary protection to Ukrainians in February decreased in 19 of the 26 EU members with available data. The largest decreases were observed in Poland, followed by Germany, Czech Republic, and Romania. Meanwhile, Ireland and Finland recorded the most significant increases.
Deportation
19 393 children have been reportedly taken to Russia according to Ukrainian government figures. Meanwhile, Russian forces are conducting so-called medical examinations of children in the temporarily occupied territories in order to have grounds for the deportation of Ukrainians to Russia for treatment. Nevertheless, as of April 24, 361 Ukrainian children have been returned to their families.
Environmental security
1 927 bln UAH (apr 47.4 bln EUR) is an approximate amount of the environmental damage caused by the Russian war in Ukraine. While demining efforts are ongoing, currently, there are still 174000 square kilometers of potentially dangerous areas remaining, which is 30% of the country's total area.
Russian war in Ukraine has caused damage to 20% of Ukraine's protected natural areas, with millions of animals already killed and 80 species facing the threat of extinction, reports Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. 10 national parks, 8 reserves, and 2 biosphere reserves are currently occupied by Russian forces. In addition, due to the war, about 600 species of animals and 750 species of plants and fungi are under threat of extinction due to Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Only in the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea, 150 dolphin deaths were recorded.
Food security
As of April 2023, the estimated value of damages equals apr. $8.7 bn. The most of the damages related to the destruction and damage to agricultural machinery, which is estimated at over $4.65 billion. In total, 109.6 thousand units of agricultural machinery were damaged or destroyed as a result of the war, says Kyiv School of Economics. Additionally, more than 4 million tonnes of agricultural products were destroyed and stolen. The total value of these damages is estimated at $1.87 billion which is reportedly the second largest category affected. The war started by Russia has significantly affected Luhansk, Kherson, Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhia regions which are also among the top 5 in terms of the number of damaged and destroyed assets.
Approximately, 25% of total Ukrainian agricultural land area is occupied and an even larger share has been destroyed or polluted, says PAX report. It has been recorded an estimated 40% reduction in the use of agricultural land due to fertile soil destruction and pollution by mines and unexploded ordnance. Nevertheless, the projected area sown by grains, oilseeds and sugar beetroot for the 2023 harvest in areas controlled by the Government of Ukraine is 19.3 million ha. This indicator remained almost at the level of the previous season.
Approximately 93% of the enterprises involved in crop production reported an increase in production costs, with over two-thirds of them recording a significant increase of over 25% since the start of the war. Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Kherson, Kirovohrad, and Zaporizhzhia regions were the most affected, with over 90% of the agricultural enterprises reporting such increases.
Education
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, 3198 education institutions have suffered bombing and shelling, 2912 of them have been damaged and 286 have been destroyed completely.
Culture
As of 19 April 2023, UNESCO has verified damage to 252 sites since 24 February 2022 – 108 religious sites, 21 museums, 91 buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, 19 monuments, 12 libraries ,1 Archive. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine reports 1373 cultural institutions and more than 550 cultural monuments have been damaged or destroyed. Their reconstruction will require approximately USD 100 billion. In addition, up to 70% of the artifacts have been stolen from Kherson museums, which is an example of similar Russian strategy in Mariupol, Melitopol, Kharkiv, Izyum, Balakliya, and other cities.
Media
In the year and two months since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has committed 509 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine. In April 2023 four freedom of speech violations committed by Russia were recorded. Namely, these include a shelling attack on the office of the Mayak newspaper in Kherson oblast and instances of cybercrime: the spread of forged Ukrainian media pages with fake news on them. Moreover, during the fourteenth month of the war, three media workers who defended Ukraine from the Russian invaders were killed on the frontline: Oleksandr Tsakhniv, Andriy Boyko, and Vladyslav Dzikovsky.
This article first appeared here: ua.boell.org