Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been going on for a year. The consequences of the occupiers’ attack are colossal. However, it is now almost impossible to understand the complete picture of the destruction and deaths due to the lack of information from the front. What was this year in numbers — Zaborona collected everything currently known in a large infographic.
Civilians
As of February 1, 2022, the State Statistics Service estimated the population at approximately 41.1 million.
There is no official data to date, but according to various estimates, there are 34-35 million people in Ukraine.
During the year of the full-scale war, the UN confirmed the death of more than 8,000 Ukrainians, and at least 13,000 people were wounded. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, among the victims, at least 487 were children, and 954 were injured. Most civilians died in the regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Kherson, Chernihiv, and Zaporizhzhya.
Infographic: Mariia Petrova / Zaborona
At the same time, Turk emphasizes: these data are only the tip of the iceberg.
Explosive weapons with a significant impact zone (strikes from heavy artillery and multiple rocket launcher systems, rocket, and airstrikes) led to the most recorded losses. Wide-range explosive weapons, including artillery shells, cruise, ballistic missiles, and airstrikes, caused around 90.3% of civilian casualties. You can see what and when Russia fired on this interactive map.
Also, the UN recorded 219 killed and 413 wounded from among the civilian population due to the detonation of mines and explosive remnants of war.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, about 8 million people have left Ukraine — that’s 20% of the country’s population. Most displaced people went to Poland, and the rest to Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and other countries. At the same time, almost 3.3 million citizens returned to Ukraine from abroad this year. Since May 10, 2022, the number of people returning to Ukraine has exceeded the number of those leaving.
About 5 million Ukrainians have become internally displaced persons in their own country, and many seek asylum. Almost 40% of Ukraine’s population — 17.6 million — requires humanitarian assistance. In addition, as a result of the Russian invasion, 143,600 people with disabilities had to be relocated from their homes.
During the year, according to various estimates, the occupiers kidnapped and took about 1.2 million Ukrainian residents to the territory of the Russian Federation. Among them, 260 to 700 thousand are children.
More than 15,000 people — both civilians and military — have gone missing due to the war in Ukraine.
Infographic: Mariia Petrova / Zaborona
How many soldiers died (and how many are in captivity)?
In the year since the beginning of the full-scale war, the losses of the Ukrainian army amounted to 13 thousand soldiers, said on December 1, 2022 adviser to the head of the Office of President Mykhailo Podolyak. And in August 2022, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, reported that almost 9 thousand Ukrainian defenders had died in the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine.
On November 30, 2022, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that, according to her estimates, 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers died in the war. However, the European Commission later admitted they were mistaken and removed this information.
As of December 2022, about 3,400 Ukrainian servicemen are in captivity. In total, 1,464 servicemen and 132 civilians were freed from Russian captivity in 2022. The exchange of prisoners took place with the joint efforts of the Office of the President, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Reintegration.
Infographic: Mariia Petrova / Zaborona
Journalists
Of the 67 journalists killed worldwide this year, 12 were killed in Ukraine, the International Federation of Journalists reported. In 2021, the number of journalists killed included 47 names. The list of journalists and media workers killed in Ukraine includes Ihor Hudenko, Yevheniy Sakun, Pierre Zakrzewski, Oleksandra Kuvshynova, Brent Renaud, Oksana Baulina, Maks Levin, Mantas Kvedaravicius, Yevheniy Bal, Roman Nezhyborets, Zoreslav Zamoysky, and Frederik Leclerc-Imhoff.
Infographic: Mariia Petrova / Zaborona
Collaborators and war crimes of the Russian Federation in Ukraine
As of January 2023, prosecutors are investigating more than 1800 proceedings related to crimes against national security. Among them, 900 are on the facts of high treason, collaboration, and aiding and abetting the aggressor state in the recently liberated territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions.
As a result of the investigations, 140 people were served suspicion notices (including in absentia), and 27 people were put on the wanted list. At the same time, we are talking here only about people who were detained under the article on collaboration, and not, for example, for treason. As of today, 265 criminal proceedings on charges of 268 people have been sent to court. Other cases are still under investigation.
There are already sentences against 53 people. But most of the punishments are similar: people are banned from holding public office for 10 years, sometimes with additional sanctions, such as confiscation of property.
The issue of war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine this year is also urgent. On November 28, 2022, Andriy Yermak noted that, according to official data from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the occupiers have committed more than 47,900 war crimes. We wrote about one of them, a missile attack on the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, here.
Infographic: Mariia Petrova / Zaborona
In general, Russia’s war crimes against Ukraine are as follows:
- sexualized and gender-based violence;
- torture and ill-treatment;
- creating threats to the civilian population;
- attacks on civilians;
- extrajudicial executions;
- illegal detention, inhuman treatment, and forced displacement.
On January 17, 2023, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin said that law enforcement officers are already investigating 67,000 war crimes committed by the Russian Federation, and there are already 25 sentences against Russian war criminals.
Occupied territories
At the beginning of the invasion, Russians seized large areas of Ukraine: The Azov Sea region from Kherson to Mariupol and Vasylivka, the northern parts of Kyiv, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Chernihiv region, and almost all of the Sumy region.
In total, in 2022, the Ukrainian military managed to liberate 40% of the territories occupied after February 24 and 28% of all territories occupied since 2014, Valeriy Zaluzhny emphasized.
Infographic: Mariia Petrova / Zaborona
In 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine conducted successful counteroffensives and drove back Russian troops from the Kyiv region, almost all of the Kharkiv region, and the right bank of the Kherson region. As of January 2, 2023, the Ukrainian military continues to hold back the enemy on a land area of 3786 kilometers, with an active front line of 1500 kilometers.
