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Hundreds of thousands of killed, trillions of losses and a destroyed country. The main numbers of war

The war of Russia with Ukraine has been going on for two years. During this time, up to one and a half million people were attracted to hostilities, more than 200 thousand have already died. The economies of both states were thrown away for decades ago, and the damage is estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars. At the same time, Russia and Ukraine do not plan to stop, continuing to increase military expenses, because of which the number of dead from both sides will only grow. The "cold" recalls what the Russian invasion has already led to.

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Up to 1.5 million people are fighting in Ukraine

Neither the Russian nor the Ukrainian authorities disclose detailed data about the number of those involved in the war. However, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky called certain numbers in their public statements. In December 2023, Vladimir Putin claimed that 617 thousand people participate in Russia.

Assessments of the number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine vary. Some Ukrainian media claimed that about 700 thousand people serve in the Armed Forces. However, Vladimir Zelensky in January 2024 stated that 880 thousand people serve in the Armed Forces.

It is impossible to confirm this data independently, since both countries keep the real number of their army in the strictest secret. But if the words of the two presidents are true, then at the moment up to one and a half million people are fighting in Ukraine - this is comparable to the population of Yekaterinburg and more than the entire population of Kazan or, for example, neighboring Estonia. Only three Russian cities live more people: Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg and Moscow.

More than 200 thousand dead military on both sides

The parties keep data on losses during the war in an even greater secret and prefer not to comment at all, however, independent analysts, experts and journalists still give evaluations based on their own calculations or leaks from secret reports of officials.

If we talk about assessments of Russian losses, the most complete and high-quality data experts consider the calculation of a group of volunteers under the guidance of the BBC and Mediazones. They are repelled exclusively from the confirmed data of the dead, which are verified using media reports, statements of officials, commemorative events in schools, universities and other institutions, as well as evidence from relatives of the dead.

According to the data on February 21, 2024, the journalists managed to confirm 45123 cases of the death of Russian military personnel, but the real figure of losses on the Russian side is evaluated twice as high (90 thousand), if we only talk about Russian citizens, and two and a half times higher (113 thousand people), if we take into account the inhabitants of the Russians and foreigners who are fighting on the side of Russia.

Journalists also do not closely engage in counting the losses of Ukraine - these grades are based on leaks of secret reports of the Allies of Ukraine. In August 2023, the US officials anonymously talked about about 70 thousand dead Ukrainian military since the beginning of the war. If you extrapolate the dynamics of losses in the next months, then on the second anniversary of the war, Ukraine could lose almost 100 thousand military personnel.

Thus, over the two years of the war, more than 200 thousand people were killed on both sides, which makes the war of Russia and Ukraine the most bloody century in the 21st century. The losses of Russia in the war with Ukraine have already exceeded Soviet losses in Afghanistan by almost eight times. For Ukraine, these are the largest losses since the Second World War.

More than 10 thousand dead civilians

According to the last report of the UN UNKB , from the beginning of the full -scale invasion of Russia 10582 civilians have died into Ukraine (including 808 residents of unrecognized LDNR), 19875 were injured. However, in reality, losses among the civilian population can be several times higher, since this international organization calculates only confirmed losses.

According to the Human Rights Watch Human Rights, which used satellite pictures for its calculations, more than eight thousand people died as a result of the assault on Mariupol alone. Experts of the analytic project Re: Russia back in February 2023 estimated the losses in Mariupol even higher - at the level of 20–25 thousand people. The project then estimated the total losses among the civilian population at the level of 40 thousand people. Thus, the losses among the civilian population according to the results of the two years of the war can exceed 50 thousand people.

Russian losses of civilians can be compared with the consequences of several shelling of civilian facilities in Ukraine. Given the annexed Crimea, according to the Russian authorities, 148 people were killed. Most often, residents of the Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions became victims. At the moment, the largest shelling of Ukraine took the lives of 61 people at once - this happened on April 8, 2022 as a result of a missile strike at the Kramatorsk station. The most deadly attack in Russia was the blow of Ukrainian drones on Belgorod on December 30, 2023, when 25 people were killed .

More than 20 thousand units of destroyed equipment

The main source of data on the losses of military equipment of the Russian and Ukrainian troops was the volunteer project of OPEC Open DataX. Volunteers recorded losses according to open data - photos and videos, which later verified, that is, set the time and place of what was recorded on them. The founders of the project stopped the blog work on October 1, 2023, but the data continued to collect the Warspoting project volunteers.

According to the latest data from Oryx and Warspoting (on February 23, 2024), Russian troops lost at least 14516 units of military equipment, including:

• 2754 tanks
• 5087 military armored vehicles (BRDM, BMP, BTR and others)
• 1490 artillery units (control machines, installations and MLRS)
• 104 aircraft
• 135 helicopters
• 20 ships and submarines
• 4926 units of other equipment (radars, SUVs, trucks and others)

The total losses of Ukraine for a similar period are almost three times lower and amounted to 5213 units:

• 748 tanks
• 1625 military armored vehicles (BRDM, BMP, BTR and others)
• 556 artillery units (control machines, installations and MLRS)
• 80 aircraft
• 38 helicopters
• 28 ships
• 2138 units of other equipment (radars, SUVs, trucks and others)

The Russian side regularly overestimates the losses of the Ukrainian side in technology and manpower, according to the study of the Cold. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in words only in June 2023 “destroyed” more than a thousand tanks, while the analysts of Oryx and Warspoting recorded a smaller number over the entire time of the war. The Armed Forces of Ukraine also publishes his data on the loss of enemy daily. Their difference from Oryx and Warspotting data is not so large, but it is impossible to independently confirm the numbers that the Ukrainian side calls.

50 trillion for war

Military expenses on both sides reached astronomical proportions. In the first year of invasion, Russian defense expenses increased by 31%: from 3.57 trillion rubles in 2021 to 4.679 trillion in 2022. Further expenses grew even faster: up to 6.4 trillion in 2023, and in 2024, astronomical 10.8 trillion laids - this is almost a third of all planned state expenditures this year, and taking into account the costs of law enforcement agencies, this figure grows to 14.5 trillion or 40% of all expenses of Russia in 2024.

By the end of the year, Russia will spend almost 22 trillion rubles, or 245 billion dollars (at a rate of 90 rubles per dollar) on the war, this is the amount comparable to the capitalization of giants such as Netflix or Coca-Cola.

Ukraine is also forced to increase its military expenses. If in 2021 she spent only 127.5 billion hryvnias (approximately $ 4.7 billion) on defense, then in 2022 expenses rose almost 10 times and amounted to 1.143 trillion hryvnias (approximately $ 53 billion). In 2023, 1.141 trillion hryvnias were first allocated from the state budget for defense, but then the amount was increased to 1.343 trillion (57.6 billion dollars). The expenses for 2024 were even higher: 1.693 trillion hryvnias ($ 44 billion). The total expenses of Ukraine for defense during the war amounted to $ 154.6 billion.

The United States spent 75.5 billion dollars to the aid of Ukraine in 2022 - almost 30 billion of them fell on military assistance packages. Another 45 billion United States was allocated "to ensure the total security of Ukraine, the restoration of its economy, energy security and to overcome the humanitarian crisis." In 2023, the United States provided Ukraine with military assistance for $ 24 billion: 34 assistance packages included F-16 fighters. In 2024, the US government promised to provide Ukraine with military assistance for $ 800 million. The total expenses of the United States for Ukraine are currently a little more than $ 100 billion.

The head of the diplomacy of the European Union Josep Borrel said that from February 2022 to January 2024, the EU transferred to Ukraine military assistance to 28 billion euros. In 2024, the EU member countries pledged to provide military assistance at least 21 billion euros. In total, this assistance amounted to 49 billion euros, or almost 53 billion dollars. About $ 7 billion was allocated by the UK, $ 12.1 billion - Japan , and 9 billion - Canada. Thus, the total expenses of states for war exceeded $ 580 billion (52.2 trillion rubles) - this is comparable to the capitalization of VISA.

Trillion of reparations

The Russian invasion collapsed the economy of Ukraine: in the first year of the Russian invasion of the country, almost 30% collapsed . After such a strong collapse in 2023, the National Bank of Ukraine expects a growth of 4.9%. However, the economic losses of the country are colossal - hundreds of production were destroyed, supply chains were violated, and the services and labor market were badly damaged. The authorities estimated the total direct losses for the Ukrainian economy on February 1, 2024 at about 700 billion dollars, and taking into account indirect and related - this amount can grow to one trillion dollars.

In the Russian economy, the invasion of Ukraine affected less, but nevertheless there is still negative dynamics. According to the results of 2022, Russia's GDP decreased by 2.1%, although after recalculation of Rosstat they improved the estimate, estimating the fall of 1.2% of GDP. However, the country managed to maintain acceptable growth rates in many respects due to the record growth of military expenses, which in the future can lead to hyperinflation, millions of unemployed and severe “economic hangover” .