Ukraine: Two years of war

Ukraine's Flag on Rubble Ukraine's Flag on Rubble Photo by Jarama via iStock

February 24, 2024 marked two years since the start of the conflict in Ukraine

As reported by Relifweb, Russia's military assault on Ukraine began a decade ago, when it occupied the southern peninsula of Crimea. A bloody invasion of eastern Ukraine, which involved active-duty Russian troops, the West says, followed.
Two years ago, that localized conflict gave way to a full-scale invasion by Russia's armed forces that has shaken every corner of Ukraine.

According to Relifweb, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022, thousands of civilians have been killed and injured across the country.
Russian air strikes, missile strikes, and artillery shelling have targeted densely populated urban centres, apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, military bases, and vital infrastructure nationwide.

The UN estimates that over a million people, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine into neighbouring Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, and the number of internally displaced people continues to grow.
As reported by Euronews, today eighteen per cent of Ukrainian territory is currently occupied by Russia. More than 6.4 million Ukrainians are refugees.
Humanitarian corridors of evacuation have been attacked, locations of sheltering civilians have been bombed, and Russian forces frequently target apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, and civilian infrastructure with explosive weapons.

Reports have emerged of brutal war crimes by Russian forces in occupied towns and villages, as Ukrainian survivors and journalists on-the-ground report testimonies of the indiscriminate shooting and calculated execution of civilians, most severely in Bucha and Borodyanka, Kyiv region.
Men between the ages of 18 and 60 have been banned from leaving the county, and millions of civilians remain in Ukraine, sheltering from the violence of the Russian advance, providing essential goods and services, and fighting alongside Ukrainian armed forces.

Latest estimates by Ukrainian sources place the number of Russian forces killed at above 18,000, though official casualty figures on both sides remain variable depending on the source.
According to HRMMU (the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine), more than 10,000 civilians have been killed and over 20,000 have suffered injuries since the Russian Federation launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine.

According to the data collected by AOAV (Action on Armed Violence) up to 24 February 2024, the total civilian casualties only from explosive violence were around 19, 926. Among these 5, 730 killed people and 14, 196 injured people.

As reported by Euronews, the overall number of Ukrainian refugees has thus increased by 5% between the end of 2022 and the end of 2023, according to the UNHCR. Of these, almost 6 million Ukrainians have found refuge in European countries.
Many Ukrainian refugees have stayed as close to home as possible, in neighbouring countries, so that they can come and go if they are able to make short-term visits” said Louise Donovan, Communications Officer at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

 

To know more, read:

https://www.euronews.com/2024/02/24/ukraine-two-years-of-war-in-figures

https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-aoav-explosive-violence-data-harm-civilians

Ukraine Suffers Deadliest Attack For Children in Months UN Says [EN/UK] - Ukraine | ReliefWeb

https://aoav.org.uk/2024/ukraine-casualty-monitor/

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/24/1232838017/russia-ukraine-war-2-year-anniversary-ukrainian-cities

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